Goldia O'Haver

[3] During World War II, she was stationed at Cañacao Hospital near Cavite Naval Base in the Philippines.

[5] In May 1943, the navy nurses agreed to transfer to a prisoner of war camp in Los Baños.

The 12 nurses built up an empty infirmary and cared for other prisoners, despite minimal supplies and chronic malnutrition.

[6] O'Haver, one of the older nurses in the group, was a skilled seamstress; she used a sewing machine and scrap fabrics to make denim uniforms, muslin sheets, surgical gowns, and pajamas for the infirmary's patients.

[3][12][13] Goldia O'Haver married Robert Heath Merrill, a fellow prisoner of war, soon after their release in 1945.

Navy nurses wearing makeshift denim uniforms, standing in a group outdoors, speaking to a man in uniform.
In this 1945 image of the Navy nurses rescued from Los Baños prison camp, the women are wearing makeshift denim uniforms sewn by Goldia O'Haver.