Photo provided by Melanie Brown
C
laire Dauphin has lived the kind of life that would make a great movie. At points, it sounds like someone already did.
Born and raised in Baden, Austria outside Vienna to American parents, Dauphin lived a comfortable life. Her family traveled Europe and beyond, taking vacations to places such as royal palaces in Egypt. But when Jewish school teachers started disappearing, and Hitler advanced in Austria, her parents knew they must act to protect their family. Like a scene in “The Sound of Music,” Dauphin, her mother and siblings escaped their tiny village in the middle of the night. Her father dropped them off at the train station. They took a train to the border of Italy, waited about a week, then flew to the United States. Dauphin later found out that after her dad dropped the family at the train station, he let the car run into the Danube River to get rid of evidence. He later joined them on their journey back to the U.S. Once Dauphin and her family settled in New Jersey, she decided to become
a nurse and join the Navy. Since she was fluent in German, she was sent to Corpus Christi, Texas to serve as a psychiatric nurse and translator when 150
56 Buckner Today • WINTER 2015 ISSUE
German prisoners of war were brought to the base. “It was amazing because they were all 19 and 20 years old,” she said.
“They were all just scared and wanted their mothers. It was heart-wrenching.” Dauphin met her husband at the base, and they eloped after the war ended. He decided to retire from the Navy so she left, too. They had three children, lived across the U.S. and ultimately retired in Houston. About 15 years ago, Dauphin took her entire family – children and grandchildren – back to Baden to see where she grew up. Dauphin’s daughter, Melanie Brown, said it hasn’t changed one bit since her mother left in the 1930s.
“She was so happy to be back there,” Brown said. “I have the sweetest
photo of her sitting on a park bench, just taking it all in. She wrote a piece for the Baden newspaper and after that, letters just flooded in. So many of the towns- people remembered her and wanted to hear what had happened to her.” Dauphin is one of 53 veterans living at Parkway Place. “I love my life,” Dauphin said. “I have lived a great life and loved the Navy. I may have been raised in Europe but I am proud to be an American.” n
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60