Rosalou Freeland Etue, a World War II combat nurse who survived capture by the Nazis and received a Bronze Star from Gen. George Patton, died Sunday in Seattle. She was 85.

Born in New Orleans, Etue graduated from nursing school there in December 1941, and celebrated by visiting her father, then a Justice Department lawyer in Washington.

While driving past the White House, they saw black curtains and learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A day later, at 21, she joined the Army Nurse Corps.

Near the end of the war, SS troops captured Etue's unit as it followed Patton's 3rd Army into Germany.

At one point, a Nazi officer accused her of being Jewish. After reading her dog tags, he forced her unit to treat wounded Germans, until Patton's army approached and the Germans fled.