By Nathan N. Prefer
Of the many groups that fought in World War II and have been largely forgotten in the history of that great conflict, none are more neglected than the women who served and died doing their duty alongside the men of the United States Army.
Known as the United States Army Nurse Corps, they served from the first day of the war to the last, suffering deaths and wounds as they treated the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and civilians who were wounded or sick.
Prior to the United States entering World War II there were only a few hundred nurses serving in the U.S. Army. Most of these served somewhere within the United States at Army hospitals on the larger Army bases. Nursing was, for these women, a chance at a career and an opportunity to escape the economic depression of the 1930s and early 1940s.
To accomplish their goal, they had to endure a belief current in America during that period—that nursing was not a suitable vocation for a woman of good character. It was considered “indecent” because these women treated men as well as women with the most intimate of diseases and illnesses. Yet many women felt that call to duty and risked social condemnation to become nurses.
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Great story! We indeed owe these angels of mercy quite a debt.