Irene Bartley was born in December 1923 in Seattle [Annotator’s Note: Seattle, Washington]. She and her twin sister grew up in Kent, Washington on a dairy farm. The family lost the farm early in the days of the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] and moved into town. They ran a small grocery store which featured a cafe, and they lived in the back. Her mother also started selling ice cream, which was popular, especially to the servicemen later on. Irene recalled the hobos present in the area around this time. Their cafe was very popular with the soldiers that were in the area when manpower was needed to work the cannery in the area. British soldiers were brought in, and they lunched at the cafe. After hearing on the radio that medical personnel were needed for the war effort, the twins went into the WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] for the medical corps. She took a train to the induction center with her sister. They were given several shots and she was told to scrub the floor to ease the pain of the after painful effect of the injections. During basic training, they woke up early in the morning and did a lot of walking. After basic training, Bartley received orders to report to Fort Sam Houston [Annotator’s Note: near San Antonio, Texas] for medical training. The weather was very hot in Texas, and it was difficult to acclimate to the military world. For example, she was stunned when she learned that she would have to shower in front of other women. Bartley and her sister studied very hard and were favored by the colonel. She received additional training in physical therapy in Ohio. [Annotator’s Note: Bells can be heard in background at 0:13:16.000.] She learned about muscles and how to properly massage them. She was trained only by women commanders.

Irene Bartley and her twin sister, Jean, joined the WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978], were trained in physical therapy techniques, and stationed at Madigan General Hospital at Fort Lewis [Annotator’s Note: near Tacoma, Washington]. They treated wounded veterans Monday through Friday. She treated about 38 patients a day. After hours, they found work serving food to veterans at the USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.]. She described the day of a patient. They woke up and took a whirlpool bath, and then Bartley would give them a massage. The patients were usually in a good mood and laughed a lot. The sisters both played on the US Army Madigan General Hospital baseball team. She flew to California for a baseball game in a bomber plane which she described as a new experience. At the end of the war, Bartley felt that she was not needed in the medical field and was discharged as a sergeant. She contracted hepatitis during her time as a WAC and was hospitalized for seven months. [Annotator’s Note: bells of a clock can be heard in the background at 0:28:15.000.] After her discharge, she found a job with Boeing. She later married.

Irene Bartley’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was seeing wounded veterans on the train. She served because she wanted to help. She enjoyed meeting the veterans and watching them return home. She felt it was her patriotic duty to serve her country. She feels that most Americans have forgotten about those who have served their country. Bartley believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because the younger generations need to know about sacrifice.