Madge and Dorothy's Uniforms

Our newest exhibit at the History Center features dresses from 1850-1950, the last being the army uniform of Magdalene Angle Fleckenstein known as Madge. 

Madge was born in 1920 in the Klondike area near Chauncey. She attended grade school at the nearby one-room school, going on to graduate from Bridgeport High School in 1940. After graduation Madge enrolled in the Olney School of Nursing and after three years graduated from there as well. 

She enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps as a Second Lieutenant in January 1944 and first worked at the Hines Veterans hospital near Chicago and was then shipped out to England and the European theater operation.

Soon Madge was deployed to Belgium and Paris. One of her duties included riding the Red Cross transport train to the battlefield and back to Paris with wounded soldiers. These transport trains marked with a large Red Cross on the top of the railcars were supposed to be exempt from enemy fire but during one transport, the train was bombed. Madge was not injured and later received the Bronze Star for her involvement.

After World War II, Madge was sent back to the Hines Hospital in Chicago and there she married Arthur Fleckenstein who had also served in the US Army during World War II. She continued working as a nurse for the remainder of her career and died in November of 2000.

The Cape shown over Madge’s uniform was worn by Dorothy Taggart.

Dorothy was born in 1922 in Michigan. She served her country in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II. 

She married the love of her life Howard Wayne Taggart in 1946 after the war ended. They lived, laughed, loved, and raised a family together for over 58 years in Saint Francisville. She died in 2025 at the age of 102.