Army Nurse Corps (United States)
Encyclopedia
The United States Army Nurse Corps (NC) was formally established by the U.S. Congress
in 1901. It is one of the six medical Special Branches (or "Corps") of officers which – along with medical enlisted soldiers – comprise the Army Medical Department (AMEDD).
The NC is the nursing service
for the U.S. Army and provides qualified nursing staff in support of the Department of Defense
medical plans. This NC is composed entirely of registered nurse
s (RNs).
The U.S. Army Nurse Corps (AN) consists entirely of commissioned officers. Nurses who wish to serve as an Army Nurse are required to hold an unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN)
license prior to receiving a commission. For the Active Army
, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree is required. Reserve Component
nurses may commission with a BSN, Associate of Science in Nursing
degree (ADN), or a Diploma in Nursing
but they must obtain their BSN in order to be eligible for promotion to the rank of Major. The US Army is evaluating this standard and may determine that entry level for Reserve Component officers will be a BSN. At this time the decision has not been made and nurses remain in high demand. The degree conferring school must furthermore be National League for Nursing (NLN)
accredited in order for a nurse to be eligible for commissioning.
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse – 66C
Peri-Operative Nurse – 66E
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) – 66F
Obstetrics-Gynecological Nurse – 66G
Medical-Surgical Nursing – 66H
Generalist Nurse – 66N
This is used to designate positions on organizational documents but is not held by the individual.
Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) – 66P
Additional Skill Identifiers (ASI)
These designate additional areas of expertise or experience and are in addition to a basic nursing specialty.
During the American Civil War
, the United States Sanitary Commission
, a federal civilian agency, handled most of the medical and nursing care of the Union armies, together with necessary acquisition and transportation of medical supplies. Dorothea Dix
, serving as the Commission's Superintendent, was able to convince the medical corps of the value of women working in their hospitals. A famous figure was Clara Barton
, whose Civil War nursing efforts had earned her the names "Angel of the Battlefield" or the "American Nightingale." In 1882, Barton helped found and served as the first president of the American Chapters of the International Red Cross.
During the 1898 Spanish-American War
, the Army hired female civilian nurses to help with the wounded. Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee was put in charge of selecting contract nurses to work as civilians with the U.S. Army. In all, more than 1,500 women nurses worked as contract nurses during that 1898 conflict.
. Julia Flikke, the assistant superintendent of nurses at a Chicago hospital, enlisted and became chief nurse at an Army hospital in France, then served on a hospital train that rushed casualties from the field hospitals to the long-term care hospitals.
In 1920, Army Nurse Corps personnel received officer-equivalent ranks and wore Army rank insignia on their uniforms. However, they did not receive equivalent pay and were not considered part of the US Army.
Flikke remained in the Army after the war. After 12 years at Walter Reed Army hospital in Washington, D.C., she was promoted to captain and became the Assistant Superintendent of Nurses. She succeeded in creating new billets for occupational therapists and dieticians. Flikke became Superintendent, with the rank of colonel, in 1938.
Colonel Flikke's small headquarters in 1942, though it contained only 4 officers and 25 civilians, supervised the vast wartime expansion of nurses, in cooperation with the Red Cross. She only took unmarried women age 22–30 who had their RN training from civilian schools. They enlisted for the war plus six months, and were discharged if they married or became pregnant.
On 26 February 1944 Congress passed a bill that granted Army and Navy Nurses actual military rank, approved for the duration of the war plus 6 months.
With over 8 million soldiers and airmen, the needs were more than double those of World War I. Hundreds of new military hospitals were constructed for the expected flow of casualties. Fearing a massive wave of combat casualties once Japan was invaded in late 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
called on Congress early in 1945 for permission to draft nurses. However with the rapid collapse of Germany early in 1945, and the limitation of the war in the Pacific to a few islands, the draft was not needed and was never enacted.
By the end of the war, the Army and Army Air Forces (AAF) had 54,000 nurses and the Navy 11,000—all women. Some 217 black nurses served in all-black Army medical units. The AAF was virtually autonomous by 1942, and likewise its Nurse Corps. Much larger numbers of enlisted men served as medics. These men were in effect practical nurses who handled routine care under the direction of nurse officers. Likewise many enlisted Wacs and Wafs (women in the Army and AAF) served in military hospitals. Medical advances greatly increased survival rates for the wounded: 96% of the 670,000 wounded soldiers and sailors who made it to a field hospital staffed by nurses and doctors survived their injuries. Amputations were seldom necessary to combat gangrene. Penicillin and sulfa drugs proved highly successful in this regard. Nurses were deeply involved with post-operative recovery procedures, air evacuation, and new techniques in psychiatry and anesthesia.
Upon Flikke's retirement in 1943, she was succeeded by Florence A. Blanchfield
, who successfully promoted new laws in 1947, that established the Army, Navy and Air Force Nurse Corps on a permanent basis, giving the nurses regular commissions on exactly the same terms as male officers. A month before she retired in 1947, Blanchfield became the first women to hold a regular Army commission.
, Da Nang
, and Saigon. Vietnam would be the first major deployment of men as nurses into the combat theater, as men could be located in more hazardous locations than what was considered safe for females. Many Army nurses faced enemy fire for the first time due to the unconventional nature of the conflict, and several nurses would die from direct enemy fire. On at least one occasion the US Army hospital at Cam Ranh Bay was assaulted and severely damaged, with a loss of both patient and staff life.
.
, Texas.
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in 1947, the Army Nurse Corps was led by a superintendent. Its nurses had no permanent commissioned rank. The Army-Navy Nurses Act took effect on 16 April 1947, establishing the Army Nurse Corps as a staff corps, with officers holding permanent commissioned rank from second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel. The corps was to be led by a director holding the rank of colonel while in that position.
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 1901. It is one of the six medical Special Branches (or "Corps") of officers which – along with medical enlisted soldiers – comprise the Army Medical Department (AMEDD).
The NC is the nursing service
Army nursing
-Australia:*Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps*Australian Army Medical Women's Service*Australian Service Nurses National Memorial, Canberra-Education:*Cadet Nurse Corps...
for the U.S. Army and provides qualified nursing staff in support of the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
medical plans. This NC is composed entirely of registered nurse
Registered nurse
A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...
s (RNs).
Mission
All actions and tasks must lead and work toward promoting the wellness of Warriors and their families, supporting the delivery of Warrior and family healthcare, and all those entrusted to our care and ultimately, positioning the Army Nurse Corps as a force multiplier for the future of military medicine.Army Nursing Team Creed
Qualifications
AR 135-100, AR 135-101, AR 601-100, and applicable Army Nurse Corps circulars in the DA Circular 601-FY-X series list qualifications for entry.The U.S. Army Nurse Corps (AN) consists entirely of commissioned officers. Nurses who wish to serve as an Army Nurse are required to hold an unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN)
Registered nurse
A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...
license prior to receiving a commission. For the Active Army
Standing army
A standing army is a professional permanent army. It is composed of full-time career soldiers and is not disbanded during times of peace. It differs from army reserves, who are activated only during wars or natural disasters...
, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree is required. Reserve Component
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
nurses may commission with a BSN, Associate of Science in Nursing
Associate of Science in Nursing
An Associate of Science in Nursing is a tertiary education nursing degree. In the United States, this type of degree is usually awarded by community colleges or similar nursing schools. Some four year colleges also offer this degree...
degree (ADN), or a Diploma in Nursing
Diploma in Nursing
A Diploma in Nursing or Nursing Diploma is an entry-level tertiary education nursing credential.In the United States, this diploma is usually awarded by hospital-based nursing schools. Students awarded a Diploma in Nursing are qualified to sit for the NCLEX-RN and apply for licensure as a...
but they must obtain their BSN in order to be eligible for promotion to the rank of Major. The US Army is evaluating this standard and may determine that entry level for Reserve Component officers will be a BSN. At this time the decision has not been made and nurses remain in high demand. The degree conferring school must furthermore be National League for Nursing (NLN)
National League for Nursing
The National League for Nursing is a national organization for faculty nurses and leaders in nurse education. It offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to more than 25,000 individual and 1,200 education and...
accredited in order for a nurse to be eligible for commissioning.
Leadership
As of 2008, the Chief of the Army Nurse Corps is Major General Patricia Horoho, the 23rd Chief of the Army Nurse Corps.Specialties – Army Occupation Code (AOC)
Public Health Nurse – 66BPsychiatric-Mental Health Nurse – 66C
Peri-Operative Nurse – 66E
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) – 66F
Obstetrics-Gynecological Nurse – 66G
Medical-Surgical Nursing – 66H
Generalist Nurse – 66N
This is used to designate positions on organizational documents but is not held by the individual.
Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) – 66P
Additional Skill Identifiers (ASI)
These designate additional areas of expertise or experience and are in addition to a basic nursing specialty.
- 7T – Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
- 8A – Critical Care Nurse (merging with M5)
- 8D – Nurse Midwife
- Only used in conjunction with AOC 66G.
- M5 – Emergency Nurse (merging with 8A)
- M8 – Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
- Only used in conjunction with AOC 66C.
- M9 – Nurse Case Manager
- N1 – Aviation Medicine Nurse Practitioner
- Only used in conjunction with AOC 66P.
History
- The Army Nurse Corps became a permanent corps of the Medical Department under the Army Reorganization Act (31 STat. 753) passed by Congress on 2 February 1901.
Pre-1901
An Army Department circular order established the designation of NurseDuring the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the United States Sanitary Commission
United States Sanitary Commission
The United States Sanitary Commission was a private relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the U.S. Army during the American Civil War. It operated across the North, raised its own funds, and enlisted thousands of volunteers...
, a federal civilian agency, handled most of the medical and nursing care of the Union armies, together with necessary acquisition and transportation of medical supplies. Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Lynde Dix was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums...
, serving as the Commission's Superintendent, was able to convince the medical corps of the value of women working in their hospitals. A famous figure was Clara Barton
Clara Barton
Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton was a pioneer American teacher, patent clerk, nurse, and humanitarian. She is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross.-Youth, education, and family nursing:...
, whose Civil War nursing efforts had earned her the names "Angel of the Battlefield" or the "American Nightingale." In 1882, Barton helped found and served as the first president of the American Chapters of the International Red Cross.
During the 1898 Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, the Army hired female civilian nurses to help with the wounded. Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee was put in charge of selecting contract nurses to work as civilians with the U.S. Army. In all, more than 1,500 women nurses worked as contract nurses during that 1898 conflict.
1901–1917
Professionalization was a dominant theme during the Progressive Era, because it valued expertise and hierarchy over ad-hoc volunteering in the name of civic duty. Congress consequently established the Army Nurse Corps in 1901 and the Navy Nurse Corps in 1908. The Red Cross became a quasi-official federal agency in 1905 and took upon itself primary responsibility for recruiting and assigning nurses.World War I
In World War I the military recruited 20,000 registered nurses (all women) for military and navy duty in 58 military hospitals; they helped staff 47 ambulance companies that operated on the Western Front More than 10,000 served overseas, while 5,400 nurses enrolled in the Army's new School of Nursing. The women were kept well back from the front lines, and although none were killed by enemy action, more than 200 had died from disease , especially influenzaInfluenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
. Julia Flikke, the assistant superintendent of nurses at a Chicago hospital, enlisted and became chief nurse at an Army hospital in France, then served on a hospital train that rushed casualties from the field hospitals to the long-term care hospitals.
Interwar period
Demobilization reduced the two corps to skeleton units designed to be expanded should a new war take place. Eligibility at this time included being female, white, unmarried, volunteer, and a graduate from a civilian nursing school.In 1920, Army Nurse Corps personnel received officer-equivalent ranks and wore Army rank insignia on their uniforms. However, they did not receive equivalent pay and were not considered part of the US Army.
Flikke remained in the Army after the war. After 12 years at Walter Reed Army hospital in Washington, D.C., she was promoted to captain and became the Assistant Superintendent of Nurses. She succeeded in creating new billets for occupational therapists and dieticians. Flikke became Superintendent, with the rank of colonel, in 1938.
World War II
At the start of the war in Dec. 1941, there were fewer than 1000 nurses in the Army Nurse Corps and 700 in the Navy Nurse Corps. All were women.Colonel Flikke's small headquarters in 1942, though it contained only 4 officers and 25 civilians, supervised the vast wartime expansion of nurses, in cooperation with the Red Cross. She only took unmarried women age 22–30 who had their RN training from civilian schools. They enlisted for the war plus six months, and were discharged if they married or became pregnant.
On 26 February 1944 Congress passed a bill that granted Army and Navy Nurses actual military rank, approved for the duration of the war plus 6 months.
With over 8 million soldiers and airmen, the needs were more than double those of World War I. Hundreds of new military hospitals were constructed for the expected flow of casualties. Fearing a massive wave of combat casualties once Japan was invaded in late 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
called on Congress early in 1945 for permission to draft nurses. However with the rapid collapse of Germany early in 1945, and the limitation of the war in the Pacific to a few islands, the draft was not needed and was never enacted.
By the end of the war, the Army and Army Air Forces (AAF) had 54,000 nurses and the Navy 11,000—all women. Some 217 black nurses served in all-black Army medical units. The AAF was virtually autonomous by 1942, and likewise its Nurse Corps. Much larger numbers of enlisted men served as medics. These men were in effect practical nurses who handled routine care under the direction of nurse officers. Likewise many enlisted Wacs and Wafs (women in the Army and AAF) served in military hospitals. Medical advances greatly increased survival rates for the wounded: 96% of the 670,000 wounded soldiers and sailors who made it to a field hospital staffed by nurses and doctors survived their injuries. Amputations were seldom necessary to combat gangrene. Penicillin and sulfa drugs proved highly successful in this regard. Nurses were deeply involved with post-operative recovery procedures, air evacuation, and new techniques in psychiatry and anesthesia.
Upon Flikke's retirement in 1943, she was succeeded by Florence A. Blanchfield
Florence A. Blanchfield
Col. Florence Aby Blanchfield was superintendent of the Army Nursing Corps, from 1943 to 1947.She was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945....
, who successfully promoted new laws in 1947, that established the Army, Navy and Air Force Nurse Corps on a permanent basis, giving the nurses regular commissions on exactly the same terms as male officers. A month before she retired in 1947, Blanchfield became the first women to hold a regular Army commission.
Prisoners of War
Korea
During the Korean War Army nurses would once again treat the wounded. Nurses would staff MASH units and standard emplaced hospitals in Japan and Korea. Nurses were on the forefront of battlefield medicine during the conflict, playing a major role in the treatment of the wounded U.N. forces within mere minutes or hours of the wounds being inflicted.Vietnam
During the Vietnam War many Army nurses would see deployment to South East Asia. Army nurses would staff all major Army hospitals in the theatre, including: Cam Ranh BayCam Ranh Bay
Cam Ranh Bay is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in the province of Khánh Hòa. It is located at an inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, between Phan Rang and Nha Trang, approximately 290 kilometers / 180 miles northeast of Hồ Chí Minh City / Saigon.Cam Ranh is...
, Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
, and Saigon. Vietnam would be the first major deployment of men as nurses into the combat theater, as men could be located in more hazardous locations than what was considered safe for females. Many Army nurses faced enemy fire for the first time due to the unconventional nature of the conflict, and several nurses would die from direct enemy fire. On at least one occasion the US Army hospital at Cam Ranh Bay was assaulted and severely damaged, with a loss of both patient and staff life.
Currently
Army Nurses are deployed all over the world, participating in humanitarian missions, and supporting the Global War on TerrorWar on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
.
Modern Nurse Corps
The Nurse Corps continues as a significant part of the Army medical department. Most training is conducted at Fort Sam HoustonFort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas.Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston....
, Texas.
Insignia and badges
The Nurse Corps has a distinctive insignia, an "N" superimposed on an Army caduceusCaduceus
The caduceus is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology. The same staff was also borne by heralds in general, for example by Iris, the messenger of Hera. It is a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings...
.
Superintendents and Directors
From its founding in 1908 until after World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1947, the Army Nurse Corps was led by a superintendent. Its nurses had no permanent commissioned rank. The Army-Navy Nurses Act took effect on 16 April 1947, establishing the Army Nurse Corps as a staff corps, with officers holding permanent commissioned rank from second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel. The corps was to be led by a director holding the rank of colonel while in that position.
List of Superintendents of the Army Nurse Corps
| • | Dita H. McKinney | ( March 1901 | – July 1909) | |
| • | Jane A. Delano Jane Delano Jane Arminda Delano, born March 13, 1862 in Montour Falls, New York, United States – died April 15, 1919 in Savenay, Loire-Atlantique, France, was a nurse and founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service.-Personal life:... |
( August 1909 | – March 1912) | |
| • | Isabel McIsaac | ( April 1912 | – September 1914) | |
| • | Dora E. Thompson | ( September 1914 | – December 1919) | |
| • | MAJ Julia C. Stimson Julia Catherine Stimson Julia Catherine Stimson is credited as one of several persons who brought nursing to the status of a profession..... |
( December 1919 | – May 1937) | |
| • | MAJ Julia O. Flikke | ( June 1937 | – March 1942) | |
| • | COL Julia O. Flikke | (March 1942 | – June 1943) | |
| • | COL Florence A. Blanchfield Florence A. Blanchfield Col. Florence Aby Blanchfield was superintendent of the Army Nursing Corps, from 1943 to 1947.She was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945.... |
( July 1943 | – September 1947) |
List of Chiefs of the Army Nurse Corps
| • | COL Mary G. Phillips | ( October 1947 | – September 1951) | |
| • | COL Ruby F. Bryant | (October 1951 | – September 1955) | |
| • | COL Inez Haynes | ( October 1955 | – August 1959) | |
| • | COL Margaret Harper | ( October 1959 | – August 1963) | |
| • | COL Mildred Irene Clark | ( September 1963 | – August 1967) | |
| • | COL Anna Mae V. Hays | (September 1967 | – June 1970) | |
| • | BG Anna Mae V. Hays | ( June 1970 | – August 1971) | |
| • | BG Lillian Dunlap | ( September 1971 | – August 1975) | |
| • | BG Madelyn N. Parks | (September 1975 | – August 1979) | |
| • | BG Hazel W. Johnson | ( September 1979 | – August 1982) | |
| • | BG Connie L. Slewitzke | ( September 1983 | – August 1987) | |
| • | BG Clara L. Adams-Ender | ( September 1987 | – August 1991) | |
| • | BG Nancy R. Adams | (November 1991 | – December 1995) | |
| • | BG Bettye H. Simmons | ( December 1995 | – January 2000) | |
| • | BG William T. Bester | (May 2000 | – June 2004) | |
| • | MG Gale S. Pollock Gale Pollock Gale S. Pollock is a retired United States Army major general who served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army from October 2006 to March 2007, and also as chief of the Army Nurse Corps. She became acting Surgeon General of the United States Army for nine months following the 20... |
( July 2004 | – July 2008) | |
| • | MG Patricia D. Horoho | ( July 2008 | – Present) |
NC officers
- First Superintendent of Army Nurses Dorothea DixDorothea DixDorothea Lynde Dix was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums...
- Cornelia HancockCornelia HancockCornelia Hancock was a celebrated civilian nurse serving the injured and infirmed of the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
civilian nurse serving the Union ArmyUnion ArmyThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, injured in battle. - Dr. Mary Edwards WalkerMary Edwards WalkerMary Edwards Walker was an American feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor....
served as a civilian nurse during the American Civil War, became the Army's first female surgeon and Medal of HonorMedal of HonorThe Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
winner. - Susie TaylorSusie TaylorSusie Baker King Taylor was the first African American army nurse. As the author of "Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers", she was the only African American woman to publish a memoir of her wartime experiences...
first African American Army nurse. - Clara MaassClara MaassClara Louise Maass was an American nurse who died as a result of volunteering for medical experiments to study yellow fever.-Early life:...
contract nurse for the Army during the Spanish American War, died participating in an army yellow feverYellow feverYellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
study. - Anita Newcomb McGeeAnita Newcomb McGeethumb|Dr Anita Newcomb McGee during the Russo-Japanese WarDr. Anita Newcomb McGee was an American physician who is remembered for her medical work with the United States military.-Family and early life:...
a physician, she became the acting assistant Army surgeon in charge of nursing during the Spanish American War. Helped to write some of the legislation that eventually created the Army Nurse Corps. - Anna MaxwellAnna MaxwellAnna Caroline Maxwell , was a nurse who came to be known by the nickname "the American Florence Nightingale". Her pioneering activities were crucial to the growth of professional nursing in the U.S.-Early career:...
instrumental in the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps. - Adah Belle ThomsAdah Belle ThomsAdah Belle Samuels Thoms was an African American nurse who cofounded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, was acting director of the Lincoln School for Nurses , and fought for African Americans to serve as army nurses during World War I...
instrumental in the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps. - LT Annie Fox (nurse) first woman to receive the Purple HeartPurple HeartThe Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
for actions during Pearl HarborPearl HarborPearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
. This award was later converted to a Bronze Star when the criteria for the Purple Heart changed. - COL Ruby BradleyRuby BradleyColonel Ruby Bradley was one of the most decorated women in United States military history. She was a native of Spencer, West Virginia but lived in Falls Church, Virginia, for 50+ years....
one of the most decorated female officer (Korea service). - BG Elizabeth P. HoisingtonElizabeth P. HoisingtonElizabeth Paschel Hoisington was an United States Army officer who was one of the first women to attain the rank of Brigadier General....
one of the first female officers to attain the rank of Brigadier General in the US Army (same day as BG Anna Mae HaysAnna Mae HaysBrigadier General Anna Mae Hays was the first woman in the U.S. Military to be promoted to a general officer rank.-Biography:...
). - LT Diane Carlson EvansDiane Carlson Evans1Lt. Diane Carlson Evans, ANC RVN served as a nurse in the United States Army during the Vietnam War and founded the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project in 1984 , initiating and leading the effort to add the Vietnam Women's Memorial to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.Carlson Evans was...
Vietnam era nurse, founder of the Vietnam Woman's Memorial Foundation. - CPT María Inés OrtizMaría Inés OrtizCaptain María Inés Ortiz , was the first American nurse to die in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom and the first Army nurse to die in combat since the Vietnam War.-Early years:...
first nurse to die in combat since Vietnam.
See also
- United States Navy Nurse CorpsUnited States Navy Nurse CorpsThe United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established by Congress in 1908; however, unofficially, women had been working as nurses aboard Navy ships and in Navy hospitals for nearly 100 years.-Pre-1908:...
- Air Force Nurse Corps
- Mobile Army Surgical HospitalMobile Army Surgical HospitalThe Mobile Army Surgical Hospital refers to a United States Army medical unit serving as a fully functional hospital in a combat area of operations. The units were first established in August 1945, and were deployed during the Korean War and later conflicts. The U.S...
(MASH) - Combat Support HospitalCombat support hospitalA Combat Support Hospital is a type of field hospital. The CSH is a United States military mobile hospital delivered to the Corps Support Area in standard military-owned Demountable Containers cargo containers and assembled by the staff into a tent hospital to treat wounded soldiers. A CSH also...
(CSH) - Field HospitalField hospitalA field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
- Army nursingArmy nursing-Australia:*Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps*Australian Army Medical Women's Service*Australian Service Nurses National Memorial, Canberra-Education:*Cadet Nurse Corps...
(disambiguation) - Vietnam Women's MemorialVietnam Women's MemorialThe Vietnam Women's Memorial is a memorial dedicated to the women of the United States who served in the Vietnam War, most of whom were nurses. It serves as a reminder of the importance of women in the conflict. It depicts three uniformed women with a wounded soldier...
- Women in Military Service for America MemorialWomen in Military Service for America MemorialThe Women in Military Service for America Memorial is located at the Ceremonial Entrance to Arlington National Cemetery and honors all women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. New York architects Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, husband and wife, designed the memorial...
Further reading
- Campbell, D'Ann. Women at War with American: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era. (Harvard University Press, 1984).
- Campbell, D'Ann . "Servicewomen of World War II," Armed Forces and Society (Win 1990) 16: 251–270.
- Gillett, Mary C. (1981), The Army Medical Department, 1775–1818, Washington, DC: United States Army Center of Military History, United States Army. (Series: Army Historical Series)
- Gillett, Mary C. (1987), The Army Medical Department, 1818–1865, Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army. (Series: Army Historical Series)
- Gillett, Mary C. (1995), The Army Medical Department, 1865–1917, Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army. (Series: Army Historical Series)
- Gillett, Mary C. (2009), The Army Medical Department, 1917–1941, Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army. (Series: Army Historical Series)
- Center of Military History, The Army Nurse Corps, Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army.
- Monahan, Evelyn and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee. And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II. (Knopf, 2003)
- Norman, Elizabeth. We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese. (Random House, 1999).
- Sarnecky, Mary T. A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps (U of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), the standard scholarly history
- Tomblin, Barbara Brooks. G.I. Nightingales: The Army Nurse Corps in World War II (2004) 272 pages excerpt and text search
- Vuic, Kara D. Officer, Nurse, Woman: The Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009)
External links
- U.S. Army Nurse Corps official homepage (on U.S. Army official website).
- Army Nurse Corps History
- The Army Nurse Corps Association
- FM 1 The Army
- American Nurse's Association: Hall of Fame
- Army Nurse Corps Info
- Army Heritage Foundation Center – Army Nurses of World War One: Service Beyond Expectations
- Army Nurse Corps Branch Orientation
- Army Nurse Corps history and WWII women's uniforms in color (WAC, WAVES, ANC, NNC, USMCWR, PHS, SPARS, ARC and WASP)
- WW2 U.S. Medical Research Centre
- US Army Nurse Corps Collection
- Viet-Nam Women's Memorial
- Women's War Memorial
- American Nurses Association
- National League for Nursing
- American Organization of Nurse Executives
- National Student Nurses Association
- Nursing Code of Ethics
- Army Values
- Nursing Associations
- Aboard the U.S.S. Comfort, 1945; personal account of life on the Comfort, including the kamikaze strike, from last known surviving ARMY nurse, 1st Lt. Doris Gardner (Howard).