Lt. Peggy Greenwalt

Lt. Beulah “Peggy” Greenwalt served as an Army nurse in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded. Maj. Frank Kriwanek entrusted her with the 12th Quartermaster Regiment colors after the surrender of U.S. troops. During her nearly three-year ordeal at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp, she was able to keep hidden a camera and film, as well as the flag, convincing her captors it was only a shawl. Eventually, all 77 nurses were liberated. After they were released from imprisonment and returned to the States, Nurse Greenwalt presented the flag back to Frank Kriwanek at a meeting of the American Legion in St. Louis in October 1945.