An attractive brunette[i], known for her sunny personality,[ii] 2LT Helen Montez Ray McLean was one of the first women to leave her nursing position at a veteran’s hospital in Atlanta to become a WWII army nurse.

When Helen Montez Ray was born, she was the first child of Tolbert Lee Ray and Mary Alice Ray Steele. She was called Montez. Born in Rossville, Georgia on November 29, 1917, her family wasn’t there too long because by the time she is two, they are living in Jacksonville, Florida.

In Jacksonville, the family is renting a home on Walnut Street. Tolbert and Mary both work. He is the manager of a dry-cleaning company and she is a stenographer for a fire agency. But by 1925, the family had moved again. This time to Tampa, Florida, where Montez’ younger sister, Betty June Ray is born.

By 1930, Mary has gone to her home state of Tennessee. Montez is living with only her mom as boarders in a home in Cornersville, Tennessee. Montez’ parents have split and Mary lists herself as divorced. No occupation is listed.

Meanwhile, Montez’ sister remained in Florida with her dad and his new wife plus stepsiblings. Betty Jane Ray died at age 17 from kidney disease just a year after her sister’s death.

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

Montez trained as a nurse at the General Hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee.[iii] She began in 1935[iv] and graduated in 1938.[v]

After graduation from nursing school, Montez, 20, married James A. McLean, 33, an assistant cashier at Commercial Union Bank from Columbia, Tennessee. The couple were married on June 26, 1938, by a judge in a courthouse ceremony in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama.[vi]

The young family lived in Columbia, Tennessee in 1940. In the household were Montez, James, his mother, and two boarders. They lived in a home they own and Montez was working fulltime as a private practical nurse.[vii]

At some point in 1940, the couple separate and Montez moves to Atlanta. She was employed by the Veterans Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia for two years before moving to the military.[viii] Both Montez and James enlist in the Army in March of 1942. On his enlistment papers, he registers as divorced.

HER MILITARY STORY

Montez began preparing for a role in the war effort by enlisting in the Army Nurse Corp on March 18, 1942, in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

Montez wasn’t going to head off into Army nursing by herself. Her good friend, Eva Casey, was to join her. Both Montez and Eva worked together at the Veteran’s Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. They were the first nurses at the hospital to ask to go into military service. They were both going to serve at Camp Forrest, just east of Tullahoma, Tennessee.[ix] Camp Forrest was one of the largest training bases for WWII.[x]

Montez reported first to Camp Forrest and Eva was to report later. Montez was looking forward to an upcoming posting in Australia.[xi]

HER LAST DAY

It was a spring night, May 12, 1942, in Tennessee when Army Nurse Helen Montez Ray McLean set out in an automobile with Thomas W. Bynum, an Atlanta newspaperman.[xii] He was the member of a prominent Georgia family.[xiii] Bynum had graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He was employed by International News Service and had previously worked for other newspapers.[xiv]

Near Wheel, Tennessee, a tragic accident occurred when their car struck a wagon. The wagon was specially constructed for August Balinger, a victim of infantile paralysis, more commonly known as polio today. The wagon allowed August to get out and about in his community of Wheel by propelling the wagon with his hands. August was killed in the crash.[xv]

At 10 p.m., on the night of the crash, Sheriff Jesse Cannon said he received a phone call telling him that Balinger had been hit and that the driver did not stop. Cannon ordered officers to all roads where the driver might escape. The sheriff and a deputy headed out to search themselves. In the meantime, Thomas had turned the car around and was heading back to the accident scene. The sheriff caught up with the couple.[xvi]

“We were close to overtaking it when the automobile went around a curve and apparently the door came open and the young woman was thrown out. The man was thrown from the other side of the car, some 50-feet away,” Sheriff Cannon said.[xvii] Montez died of a massive brain injury[xviii] and Thomas injured himself resulting in hospitalization.[xix]

She was 23.

AFTER HER DEATH

T. D. Balinger, the father of August Balinger, took out a warrant charging Thomas Bynum with manslaughter.[xx]

Thomas W. Bynum, the driver of the car, faced charges of manslaughter after he left a Lewisburg, Tennessee hospital. He was charged with the death of Montez, his passenger, as well as the death of August Balinger, the man he hit and killed.[xxi]

Research did not uncover accident details that might reveal more information. No information was found noting if the wagon had lights or reflectors for night use, weather conditions, speed or if alcohol was involved.

He was released on bond of $2,500 and the case was sent to traffic court. From there it was sent to the Grand Jury.[xxii]

Research did not uncover any further information as to a trial or conviction.

HER GRAVE

Second Lieutenant Helen Montez Ray McLean is buried at Lone Oak Cemetery in Lewisburg, Tennessee.

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

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