Serving her country as a nurse during World War II was good, Edna Barker of Beatrice said.

“I have no regrets that I joined the military,” she told an assembly of Beatrice Middle School students Monday morning during a Veterans Day program.

Barker said she decided to quit her position at Des Moines General Hospital in November 1941 to join the military.

Underage at the time, she said she had to get her parents' permission to join. Soon after that, she was on her way to Chicago, then to New York for six weeks before being sent to work at the largest military hospital in the U.S. in Bethesda, Md.

After eight weeks there she was transferred to the San Diego Naval Hospital, where she worked in the orthopedic ward.

Barker said she saw a lot of veterans come in with broken bones, many with casts on arms and legs.

“It was my job to cut the casts off,” she said. “Sometimes when we removed the casts we found maggots.”

Barker explained that the maggots would keep the pain and infection down in the injured limb. She said she would use ether to kill the maggots and then scrape them out.

Barker also recalled being assigned to take care of three pilots involved in an aircraft crash.

“Because of their injuries, it was my job to keep them comfortable until they died,” she said.

She shared memories of celebrating VJ day at a hotel, dropping water balloons onto the sidewalk below.

Her favorite memories from her service were the times she escorted veterans who couldn't leave the hospital by themselves to their homes to visit with their families.

Monday's program was organized by the students in Michael Policky and Ben Essam's mentor rooms.

“It's all put on by the kids,” Policky said.

He said this is something they've done for a number of years to commemorate Veterans Day and help the students understand why the day is important.