Famous Nurses in World War 1

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To start, there were only 403 nurses on duty when the U.S. entered World War 1 on April 6, 1917, and this included 170 reserve nurses. Before the beginning of the World War, female nurses usually belonged to religious orders and were given a low status. They were treated like house servants to take care of the sick in private homes or hospitals. Within 1 year, more than 12,000 nurses were there on duty in the U.S. military. During World War 1, the Army nurses were not given a commission. They served as non-commissioned Naval staff. After the World War, Congress, in appreciation of their services rendered during the war, gave them the ‘Relative Rank’ status. That meant that an Army nurse first lieutenant had less pay and status than a male first lieutenant. Female nurses participated in the war courageously and were awarded many awards including the Distinguished Service Cross which is next only to the Medal of Honor.

1.  Ester Hasson

Ester Hasson
Ester Hasson

Ester Voorhees Hasson, better known as Esther Hasson, was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 20, 1867 and died in Washington, D.C. on March 8, 1942 at the age of 74. She received her training in nursing and graduated from the Connecticut Training School for Nurses, New Haven in 1897. She served in the United States Navy Nurse Corps from 1908 to 1911 and as an Army nurse from 1917 to 1919. She was the first superintendent of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps at the time of its establishment in 1908. Nineteen nurses were recruited and trained under her command. Esther Hasson became a U.S. Army Reserve Nurse in June, 1917 and served in World War 1 as Chief Nurse of two Army hospitals. She had also served the U.S. Army as a contractual nurse in the Philippines and the hospital ship Relief. After leaving the Army in 1901, she served in Panama from 1905 to 1907.

2. Josephine Beatrice Bowman

Josephine Beatrice Bowman
Josephine Beatrice Bowman

Josephine Beatrice Bowman, commonly known as Beatrice Bowman, was born in Des Moines, Iowa on December 19, 1881 and died on January 3, 1971 at the age of 89. After graduating from the Medico Chiruical Hospital in Philadephia, Pennsylvania in 1904, she joined the American Red Cross service. She participated in the first Red Cross relief operation when Hattiesburg, Mississippi faced disaster caused by a tornado. She joined the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps soon after its establishment in 1908. She was 1 of its first 20 members known as the ‘Sacred Twenty.’ During World War 1, she was promoted to the position of Chief Nurse in the Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois. She guided her staff through the 1918-19 influenza pandemic.

3. Lenah Higbee

Lenah Higbee
Lenah Higbee

Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, better known as Lenah Higbee, was born in Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada on May 18, 1874 and died in Winter Park, Florida on January 10, 1941 at the age of 66. She served as superintendent of the United States Navy Nurse Corps during World War 1. She graduated in nursing in 1899 from the New York Post Graduate Hospital. She also graduated from Fordham Hospital, New York in 1908 and joined the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps as one of the first of the ‘Sacred Twenty.’ In 1909, Lenah Higbee was promoted and became Chief Nurse at Norfolk Naval Hospital the same year. She was the first woman to be awarded the Navy Cross in recognition of her achievements in leading the Corps through World War 1. The U.S. combat ship USS Higbee (DD-806), was named in her honor. It was commissioned in 1945 and was the first combat ship named after a female naval nurse.

4. Laura M. Cobb

Laura M. Cobb
Laura M. Cobb

Laura M. Cobb was born in Atchison, Kansas on May 11, 1892 and died in Wichita, Kansas on September 27, 1981 at the age of 89. She graduated from Mulvane High School in 1910 and Wesley Hospital, Wichita in 1918. At the end of World War 1, she served at the Canacao Naval Hospital in Manila as a nurse of the United States Navy. As a member of the United States Navy, she also served during the World War 2. She was decorated for being held as a Japanese prisoner of war for 37 months, and she continued serving as chief nurse of the other POW nurses including some of the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor who were captured by the Japanese in and around Manila. Laura M. Cobb retired from the Nurse Corps in 1947 as a lieutenant commander.

5. Marie L. Hidell

Marie L. Hidell
Marie L. Hidell

Marie L. Hidell was born in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, USA on August 14, 1879 and died in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, USA on September 29, 1918.She graduated from the Reading Hospital School of Nursing and served the U.S. Army at Santa Isabel Hospital in Cuba. After serving day and night at the Naval hospital in Philadelphia, the 39-year-old nurse fell victim to the influenza pandemic. For her distinguished services and devotion to duty, she was awarded the Navy Cross.

6. Myn Hoffman

Myn Hoffman
Myn Hoffman

Myn Hoffman was born in Bradford, Illinois on May 12, 1883 and died in Bronxville, New York on January 5, 1951. She graduated in 1915, from the Nursing Training School at St.Joseph’s Hospital, Denver, Colorado. She served in many hospitals during and after the World War 1. In 1934 she was appointed chief nurse in 1934, and in January, 1935 she was raised to the rank of the superintendent becoming the fourth superintendent of the Navy Corps. She retired in 1938 and received the rank of lieutenant commander in recognition of her valuable services rendered to the Navy Nurse Corps.

7. Sue S. Dauser

Sue S. Dauser
Sue S. Dauser

Sue S. Dauser was born in Anaheim, California on September 20, 1888 and died on March 11, 1972 at the age of 83. She joined the U.S. Navy in September 1917 as a nurse and served at the Naval Base Hospital #3 in U.S., Edinburgh, and Scotland. During World War 1, she held the grade of chief nurse. After the war, she was made the head nurse in charge at the U.S. Naval Hospital, San Diego, California. She tended the U.S. President Warren G. Harding during his illness in 1930.

8. Nellie Jane DeWitt

Nellie Jane DeWitt
Nellie Jane DeWitt

Nellie Jane DeWitt was born to Peter and Ella C. DeWitt in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on July 16, 1895 and died in McLean, Virginia on March 16, 1978 at the age of 82. She received her early education at Susquehanna High School. In 1917, she graduated from Stanford Hospital School of Nursing, Stanford, Connecticut in 1917. She joined the Navy Nurse Corps on October 26, 1918, in Charleston, South Carolina. She was raised to the rank of chief nurse at the Naval Hospital, Aiea Heights, Hawaii. She was the sixth superintendent and the first Director of the Navy Nurse Corps.

9. Sister Pearl Corkhill

Sister Pearl Corkhill
Sister Pearl Corkhill

Sister Pearl Corkhill was born in Tilba Tilba, New South Wales, Australia on March 11, 1887 and died in Dalmeny, New South Wales, Australia on December 4, 1985. She was an Australian Military Nurse of World War 1. She was trained as a nurse in Sydney and joined the Australian Imperial Force on June 4, 1915. She was assigned to the 38th British Casualty Clearance Station on August 21, 1918. She remained perfectly composed and continued tending her patients when her camp was under heavy bombardment. In recognition of her bravery, she was awarded the Military Medal and became one of only seven decorated similarly.

10. Edith Cavell

Edith Cavell
Edith Cavell

Edith Cavell was born in Swardeston, Norfolk, England on December 4, 1865 and died in Brussels, Belgium on October 12, 1915 at the age of 49. She received her nursing training at the London Hospital and was recruited as a matron of a newly established nursing school. During her service in Belgium, the British nurse Edith Cavell helped the Allied prisoners to escape during World War 1. She was arrested on August 3, 1915 and charged with protecting Allied soldiers. She was court-martialed for this crime and detained in isolation. After the submission of her written confession, she was executed on October 12, 1915.

Conclusion:

Florence Nightingale, the celebrated English nurse, known all over the world as ‘The Lady with the Lamp,’ attended the wounded in the Crimean War and founded the first nursing school in 1860 at St. Thomas  Hospital, London. The original nursing pledge,  ‘I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous and will not knowingly administer any harmful drug’ was named the Nightingale Pledge in her honor. The candle of nursing lighted by Florence Nightingale years ago continues and shall continue to give light, hope, and healing to the suffering and sick in peace and war.

 

 

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