In God We Trust
Attention Korean War Educator readers. Do you know about a nurse that was serving in the U.S. military during the Korean War whose name does not already appear on this page? (Some nurses' bios are posted on the Notables section of the Female Korean War Veterans topics page.) The KWE invites you to contact us to honor that nurse on this page. All nurses posted in this section served in Korea, Japan and other areas of the Pacific area, the States, or elsewhere in the world during the Korean War time frame. The KWE salutes their dedication to their patients.
After high school Marilyn attended nursing school at East Liverpool, Ohio City Hospital. She joined the Navy on October 1, 1948. She was stationed at Camp Pendleton one year (summer 1949-December 1950) and then was sent to Yokosuka Naval Hospital in Japan during the Korean War. She worked there for 17 months on the orthopedic ward. After returning to the States she began working at Bethesda Naval Hospital in May of 1952.
She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 24, 1920, but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Rockford College for two years and then entered the three-year nursing program at Evangelical Hospital. She enlisted in the Army in January of 1944 and was assigned to England on April 1944. She returned to the United States and lived in San Francisco, California for eight years. She rejoined active duty in the Korean War and was assigned to care for the wounded in Korea. After that she was the chief nurse in Saigon, Vietnam. She was later assigned to Nuremburg, Germany and several duty stations in the USA. She retired in 1974 and died in Denver, Colorado on September 27, 2013.
Born February 14, 1935 in Philadelphia, Marie was a WAC nurse in Germany during the Korean War. She died September 11, 2020.
Zeta was born July 07, 1911 in North Carolina, a daughter of Edward Helsabeck Beeson (1878-1951) and Christenia Hampton Beeson (1881-1966). Her siblings included Henry Beeson, Otis Carrington Beeson (1902-1964), Joseph Raymond Beeson (1914-2005), Edward Helsabeck Beeson Jr. 1917-2008) and Ethan Conrad Beeson Sr. (1923-1995). Zeta was a Captain in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II and the Korean War. She died June 30, 1970 in Statesville, North Carolina. She is buried in Crews Methodist Church Cemetery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Born in South Dakota on February 5, 1928, she was a flight nurse during the Korean War. She retired in 1971 as a major.
Ruth received a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing Education from the University of Pittsburgh. She was a nurse in the Korean War. She retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after more than 20 years in service to her country. She died September 17, 2015.
Beth was born in Honolulu and died April 10, 2020. She graduated from Roosevelt High School and the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. After graduation she was a U.S. Army officer and MASH unit nurse during the Korean War.
Mary was born February 11, 1915, daughter of Luther William Lance (1884-1967) and Cora Lou Peden Lance (1892-1974). Mary Lance Bradley, 101, passed away peacefully with her family on Wednesday, September 28, 2016. Mary was the oldest daughter of 13 children, raised on a farm in Chillicothe, Texas. She had also lived in Crownsville, Md., for four years. Mary became a registered nurse in 1939 and later an anesthetist, practicing until her retirement in 1978. She served 15 years in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps; stationed in the Pacific theater during both World War II and the Korean War. She was a loving mother, devoted wife and active member of her church family, Oakhurst United Methodist (later merged to become Faith United Methodist). Her faith was always her strength and light, which guided her care and service to others. She was also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mrs. Bradley was preceded in death by her husband of 35 years, retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles J. "Brad" Bradley. She is survived by her beloved son, Charles Lance Bradley and his wife, Marsha A. Bradley, of Crownsville, Maryland; and her most precious granddaughters, Cora A. Bradley and Jessa K. Bradley. She is also survived by her loving brothers, Raymond Lance of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and Larry Keith Lance of Plainview; and many devoted nieces and nephews.
"Janice Feagin Britton of Spanish Fort, Alabama, died February 20, 2014, at age 92 after a lifetime of service and adventure. Britton served in the U.S. Army Air Corps’ 801st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron from 1945 to 1948 and then in the U.S. Air Force from 1948 to 1952, achieving the rank of captain. At the end of World War II, she was stationed in the Pacific, where she witnessed the aftermath of Hiroshima’s destruction. Britton saw the start of the Korean War in 1950 and was among the first group of flight nurses to bring wounded soldiers back from the front lines. She earned a master’s degree in nursing administration at Boston University and studied at Columbia University in New York City. Britton developed a two-year associate degree nursing program at Pensacola Junior College, the first in the state of Florida, and a two-year nursing program at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1966 she was commissioned by the Board of World Missions of the Presbyterian Church to serve as a medical missionary in Brazil from 1967 to 1970. A few years after the death of her husband, Francis, she volunteered at age 78 for the U.S. Peace Corps, serving in Zambia from 1998 to 2000. In recent years she had been an active member of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association and American Legion Post 199. She is survived by two nieces, several great-nieces and great-nephews, and many cousins." [Source: Obituary, Vanderbilt University]
Born September 20, 1918 in Lowell, Massachusetts, Helen joined the Navy Nurse Corps in 1944. She served onboard the USS Consolation during the Korean War. She was a chief nurse onboard Naval Support Activity (NSA) DaNang in 1968-69 during the Vietnam War. She retired in 1971 after serving 30 years in the Navy/Navy Reserve. She then worked in the Panama Canal Zone. She died April 26, 2013.
The daughter of Mary E. Brown of Kansas, Sergeant Brown was a surgical technician with the 9th Medical Group at Travis AFB in 1950.
She was a nurse in Korea's 11th Evacuation Hospital's Renal Insufficiency Center.
Born August 07, 1929, Nona married Spencer Calcamuggio on April 28, 1951. She graduated from Toledo Hospital's School of Nursing in 1952 and joined the Army Reserves Nurses Corps. She served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 8209 MASH unit in Korea and was honorably discharged from the Army in May of 1953. She died September 12, 2021.
Born July 17, 1923, in Augusta, Georgia, Erin received her nursing degree from the University Hospital in August in 1944. She enlisted in the Army in 1945. During the Korean War she was a nurse in the 8063rd MASH. She landed with the 1st Cavalry Division at Pohang-Dong in 1950. Erin was Chief of Nursing at the 29th Evacuation Hospital in Vietnam. She died November 26, 2001 and is buried in Fort Logan Cemetery.
During World War II she worked as a Rosie the Riveter, welding copper boxes used on bombsights. After the war she joined the Army Nurse Cadet Corps and was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in the Army in 1950. She spent three years as a triage nurse stationed in a hospital in Japan.
Lt. Colonel Chicken was born July 06, 1914. After becoming a registered nurse, she joined the Army Air Corps on July 1, 1942. She became an air evac nurse during World War II, stationed in the Azoresand later a hospital at Hickham Field in Honolulu, Hawaii. After discharge from the Air Corps, she attended Northwestern University in Chicago on the GI Bill. She received a master's degree in pathology. When the Korean War broke out, she was recalled to the Air Force and sent to Japan. She assisted in flying patients from the battlefield in Korea to a tent hospital at Pusan or Japan. The nurses flew from Japan to Korea in a C-47 with a load of equipment and supplies and then returned with wounded. She retired in 1968. After her military service she became an office nurse for orthopedic doctor Bob Wingo in Punta Gordo, Florida. [Source: Charlotte Sun newspaper, December 25, 2017]Lt. Colonel Chicken died October 05, 2021
Julia was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 29, 1920. She entered nursing school through the US Army Cadet Nursing Corps on September 20, 1943. Upon graduation she entered the US Army Nurse Corps from Asheboro, North Carolina in April 1945 as a Second Lieutenant. Before Korea, her assignments included hospital operating rooms in the US, Germany and Japan. She entered Korea as a First Lieutenant and was later promoted to Captain.She was one of 12 nurses to set up the first MASH unit in Korea.US Army nurses stationed in the Korean War served six month rotations. Choate moved from Korea to the Tokyo Army Hospital in Japan in the winter of 1950-51. For the remainder of the war she worked in an operating room on soldiers needing more extensive surgery that could be provided in Korea. Her next posting was Iran. There Choate met and married her husband, Daryle Baxter, another Army officer. Due to her pregnancy the following year, Baxter was discharged from the military as pregnant nurses were not allowed to serve.
She was a nurse in a military hospital during the Korean War.
Chief Nurse Major Eunice Coleman was born March 21, 1903 in Wilbarger County, Texas, daughter of Leonard Alvin and Mary Elizabeth Coleman. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota, and prior to the Korean War she was a nurse in Duke, Oklahoma. She received a Bronze Star with V from the Army Nurse Corps for her service in the Korean War. After the war she served in the Kansas City General Hospital School of Nursing. She died August 15, 1993.
Born and raised in Utah, Maxine trained as a nurse from 1944 to 1947. She joined the Navy Nurse Corps as an Ensign in 1951. She spent two years at stateside naval hospitals and then at the end of 1953 she joined the staff of the USS Haven hospital ship during the Korean War. she served on Guam and then served in a Navy hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts during the polio epidemic. In 1975 she was promoted to Admiral and put in charge of 2,600 Navy nurses in the Navy Nurse Corps.
1st Lieutenant Cottrell enlisted in the Army in April 1951. In January of 1952 she was sent to Osaka, Japan. In June 1952 she was transferred to Korea where she spent 14 months in the 121st Evacuation Unit as an operating room supervisor. She was discharged in January 1954.
Born in Iowa, Mary Jane was commissioned at Philadelphia Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, caring for wounded Marines. She served from 1952 to 1955 during the Korean War. She later married Air Force pilot Carl Crumpler. Her husband's plane was shot down on July 05, 1968 during the Vietnam War. She was reunited with him in 1973 at Maxwell Air Force Base.
Mary was from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania and in 1952-53 she was serving at the 8228 MASH in the western sector in Korea.
Lois was born December 17, 1926. She graduated from Peter Bent Brigham Nursing School in 1949 and became a registered nurse in January 1950. She entered the Navy as a nurse in September 1950 and served in naval hospitals in Jacksonville, Florida and Portsmouth, Virginia.
Born October 24, 1921, she was the second black woman to be admitted to the US Navy Corps in World War II. She was also the first black nurse admitted to the regular Navy. She was a World War II and Korean War veteran.
Nurse in Korea. Promoted to Major.
Lieutenant Donald served as a nurse in the Korean War.
She was a captain and nurse in the US Air Force during the Korean War.
Cathy was a native of Shelby, Montana. She enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1949 and was first dispatched to Korea to the 8076 MASH. Attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant, in Mary of 1951 she was briefly assigned to a MASH unit at Daejeon in South Korea. She was transferred to a tent-based hospital located near the 38th parallel--the 8055 MASH, located 10 miles behind the front line. There she met Dale Drake, an anesthesiologist at the 8055 in 1951. McDonough shipped out of Korea in April of 1952 and began work at Walter Reed Hospital. When Dale left Korea the couple married on June 6, 1953 and settled in Indiana. They were parents of two daughters and one son.
Born September 3, 1927, Ethel was a US Army nurse who served in Japan during the Korean War. She died February 10, 2020.
Edith was born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, daughter of John and Bertha Guernsey Roderick. She graduated from Allentown High School in 1936 and from Reading (Pennsylvania) Hospital School of Nursing in 1939. She enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1942 and was sent to Fort Belvoir, Virginia. From there she was sent to Needles, California and then O'Reilly General Hospital in Springfield, Ohio. In 1944 she was sent to England's 91st General Hospital, Headington, Oxford. She was promoted to Lieutenant in England. Back in the States, she was promoted to Captain. From 1945 to 1950 she was a nurse anesthetist at Walter Reed Hospital. In August of 1950 she was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, then San Francisco, California. From there she went to Yokohama, Japan, and then to the 122nd Evacuation Hospital in Hamhung, North Korea. There she helped care for veterans being evacuated from the Chosin Reservoir. Back in the States she was sent to the army hospital in Fort Eustis, Virginia, and then Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. She was discharged in 1955, but continued nursing as a civilian until 1984. She died in September of 2019 at the age of 99.
Served in Korea 1954-55 with the 160th Neurosurgical Detachment of the 121st Evacuation Hospital.
She enlisted in the Army in 1949. During the Korean War she served in military hospitals in Japan, caring for wounded Korean War veterans.
Born in 1928, she was from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. She joined the Air Force as a flight nurse. During the Korean War she served with the 801st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron, 315 Air Combat Troop Carrier Squadron. She was stationed in Korea and Japan. She served in Korea from December of 1951 to 1952. She received her discharge in 1953. After the war she worked at Wood Veterans Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She married Harold Dorn.
Born on November 7, 1916, Annie Ruth served 26 years as an Army nurse. She was a General Duty Nurse from January 1951 to September 1952 at the US Army Hospital in Camp Rucker, Alabama. She was then a General Duty Nurse from October 1952 to September 1954 in the US Army Hospital, Camp Yokohama, Osaka Army Hospital, Japan. She served in the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In Vietnam she was chief nurse at the 91st Evacuation Hospital in Tuy Hoa. She suffered a stroke in South Vietnam and died in August of 1968.
Born in June of 1922, She joined the Army Nurse Corps and served in World War II and the Korean War. In Korea she was a nurse in the 121st Evacuation Hospital. She later married Doyle R. Campbell, a World War II and Korean War veteran. Elaine died in January of 2006.
Lieutenant Haley was raised on a farm near Edgeland, North Dakota. She graduated from St. John's Nursing School in Fargo, North Dakota, and then joined the Navy Nurse Corps in 1952. She had duty at St. Alban's Naval Hospital, Great Lakes Naval Hospital near Chicago, and then in Japan. She served on the USS J.C. General Breckinridge and was then stationed at a base in Bremerton, Washington. She married Gary Haley, a dentist at the same base in Bremerton, on January 31, 1958. Lieutenant Haley served in the Navy from 1952 to 1958.
Lorraine Hankey lived a fulfilled life having served in the US Navy as a nurse and leader. Commissioned in 1942, Lorraine served in three wars: World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, retiring as a Commander in the Navy Nurse Corps. Lorraine traveled extensively; however, she lived on Lake Alexander, Cushing, Minnesota. It was there she enjoyed her retirement years. She was a role model and mentor for several of her nieces and will be greatly missed. Born in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1914, Lorraine passed away at 104 years old on Saturday, November 24, 2018 at the Jones Harrison Residence, Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is preceded in death by her parents, George and Minnie (Kobberbig) Hankey; Alice Miresse, sister; Robert Hankey, brother; Meredith Dahl, sister; and an infant brother; and two nieces and two nephews. She is survived by six nieces and four nephews, and 24 great-nieces and nephews. Lorraine Hankey’s burial and memorial service was planned for Sunday, July 28, 2019 at the Evergreen Hill Cemetery, Staples.
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950.
"Air Force Lt. Col. Helen M. Hennessey retired January 31, 1967, after 27 years of military service. Hennessey was the last remaining active duty Air Force nurse to have been amongst those who served at the Battle of Bataan in 1941. Hennessey joined the Army in November 1940 and was assigned to the Sternberg Hospital in Manila. She, along with the other nurses there, relocated to Bataan in the last week of December 1941 as U.S. forces withdrew in face of a Japanese assault. Here they endured another three months of attacks while caring for their patients in open air wards designated as Field Hospital #1 and #2. The Army evacuated the nurses again on April 9th, along with a handful of other personnel, just before Bataan fell. The estimated 70,000-75,000 U.S. and Filipino troops left behind surrendered later that day and were subjected by their captors to a 60-70 mile forced march that become known as the Bataan Death March. Historians estimate that 5,000-18,000 Filipinos and 500-650 Americans perished due to physical hardships and executions during this ordeal. Once on the island of Corregidor, which itself had been under attack for over three months, Hennessey began caring for the sick and wounded in the 1,000-bed underground hospital that was part of the complex known as the Malinta Tunnel. Once again, the Japanese attacks were relentless, but this time there was no escape. Hennessey and the other nurses found themselves amongst the 11,000 prisoners of war when the island’s defenders surrendered on May 6, 1942. The Army nurses were taken to Santo Tomas civilian internment camp in Manila where they did their best to care for the ill and starving inhabitants. The camp was finally liberated by U.S. Army forces on February 3, 1945. Hennessey remained on active duty and transferred to Randolph Field, Texas, to begin flight nurse training. Subsequent assignments took her to Japan as a flight nurse in the late 1940s, as well as to Lackland, Barksdale, Carswell, and Westover Air Force Bases, and later to Bitburg, Germany. She finished her career as the Chairman of the Department of Nursing at USAF Hospital Keesler, Mississippi. Her awards included a Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, Philippine Defense Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, and Presidential Unit Citation. Hennessey passed away September 16, 1997, at age 83." [Source: Air Force Medicine website]
She was an Air Force flight nurse on a C-47 during the Korea. She served with the 801st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron and was aboard 14 months. She later married Kenneth Hester.
Glee was a nurse in a recovery hospital in Hawaii in 1952. She worked on a post-surgical ward for vets who were injured in Korea but couldn't make the whole trip back to the U.S. at one time. After the war she was a nurse at St. Francis Hospital, Blue Island, for 52 years--mostly in the emergency room.
She was a Black-American nurse in World War II and the Korean War. She was from Greensboro, North Carolina.
Captain Hix was a Korean War nurse.
Alice joined the Navy after graduation in 1947 and then worked in Bethesda and Norfolk Naval Hospitals. In October of 1950 she joined the staff of the hospital ship USS Response, serving on it 14 months. She then served in naval hospitals in Newport, Rhode Island; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Corpus Christie, Texas. After eight years, nine months and 11 days in the Navy, Alice married USMC Captain Wes Hixon in 1957 in Corpus Christi.
She was a nurse in a military hospital during the Korean War.
Mabel Ethel Hyltin (1907-1999) was a Major in the U.S. Air Force. She graduated from Austin High in 1926 and Trinity Lutheran Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. She worked as a registered nurse in Austin, at the U.S. Steel Hospital in Alabama, and later was the supervising nurse at Memorial Hospital in San Marcos. In 1941 she entered the military service. She had a distinguished career and retired as Major in 1957. She served as Chief Nurse in the South Pacific and European Theatre of Operation during World War II. During the Korean War, she served as Emergency Flight Nurse. She was a member of the Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Austin.
Jo was a registered nurse in the US Air Force from 1948 to 1956. On May 31, 1951, she married Roger Wilson Jellison. An Air Force pilot, Roger was killed in a plane crash on May 07, 1957 in Saudi Arabia.
Born January 14, 1935, Kachinas received her RN from Providence Nursing School. In 1951 she joined the Army and was a lieutenant nurse during the Korean War. She died January 1, 2010.
Born April 13, 1930, Vera was a Korean War nurse in the Army. She died January 16, 2021.
Born on June 28, 1918, Lieutenant Colonel King was a World War II and Korean War nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. She died August 07, 2004.
From Saginaw, Michigan, Pat served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 801st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron during the Korean War.
Jean, who was from Oregon, joined the Army Nurse Corps and served in the 8076 MASH in Korea from November 1950 until August 1951. She retired as a registered nurse in 1994.
Captain LaConte was an 8055 MASH nurse during the Korean War.
She was an active duty nurse during the Korean War.
She was a member of the Army Nurse Corps in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In Korea she was a hospital train nurse.
Born in Springfield, Missouri, she joined the Army and had basic training at Ft. Lee, Virginia in 1950. She received her wings during paratrooper training with the 82nd Airborne of the 3rd Army Unit 3420 at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. From 1950 to 1954 she worked with MASH units at Pusan, Seoul, Chosin, and other sites. She was discharged on February 16, 1954. Her Cherokee name was "Many Tears".
Born February 25, 1926, Victoria was the daughter of Anthony Malokas (1894-1958) and Anella Riskavicius Malokas (1894-1962). Her siblings were Eleanor, Helen Grace (died 2003), and John Thomas (died 2000). Victoria was a 1st Lieutenant flight nurse in Korea in 1952. She died April 11, 1995 and is buried in All Souls Cemetery, Chardon, Ohio.
Hilda M. Marks, age 103, of Adrian, died on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at ProMedica Charlotte Stephenson Manor in Adrian. She was born April 14, 1913 in Blissfield Township to William and Fredricka (Zahn) Marks. She graduated from Blissfield High School and St. Luke's Nursing School. She served as a Registered Nurse in the Army Nurse Corps from 1942-67. She was awarded the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. Hilda served in the European Theater in World War II and also served in a M.A.S.H. Unit during the Korean War. After that, she worked at Bixby Medical Center for 10 years. She was a member of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church. Hilda is survived by 10 nieces and nephews, Leola Hunt, Herbert Marks, Patricia Frohnapfel, Norman (Babe) Marks, Stanley (Judy) Marks, Paul (Jeannine) Marks, Roy (Rosalie) Marks, James (Sandy) Burgess, Richard (Debbie) Marks and Mildred Marks; and many great nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers and two sisters. Funeral services will be held on Monday, April 10, 2017, at 11 a.m. at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church with Pastor Keller officiating. Burial will be in Pleasant View Cemetery in Blissfield.
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950.
Lt. Colonel Matthias was born and raised in Littlestown, Pennsylvania. He attended Littlestown High School and graduated from Bryn Mawr Hospital School of Nursing in 1946. What followed was a 22-year military career as medical surgical nurse and later chief nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. She served two tours of duty in Frankfurt, Germany; Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu, the Korean War, the 3rd Surgical Hospital in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, and Valley Forge General Hospital. The recipient of an army Legion of Merit award, she retired in 1973. Lt. Colonel Matthias died September 26, 2018.
She served in the Navy Women's Reserves (WAVES) from October 1943 to June 1946 and the US Navy from December 1948 to August 1966. In 1951, Dorothy L. Matz was one of five Navy women selected to serve on General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Advanced Planning Group staff, at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) Headquarters in Paris, France. In 1963, she became the first enlisted Navy woman assigned to Australia.
Lieutenant Maystrovich was caring for wounded Korean War veterans in Tokyo Army Hospital in January of 1951.
Born June 13, 1920, Helen graduated from Inglewood High School and then the nursing school at South Shore Hospital. Colonel McCormick retired from the U.S. Army Nurse Corps with the rank of colonel after a 30-year career that took her to Utah Beach on D-Day, France and Luxembourg, Germany during World War II. She was a nurse for five years at Hines VA Hospital. During the Korean War she served at army bases and hospitals in Indiana, Michigan, and Colorado. During the Vietnam War she took care of Vietnam War-wounded. She was chief nurse of the Pacific Theatre, including Hawaii, Thailand, Japan and Korea from 1972 to 1975. She was promoted to Colonel in 1970. She retired from active duty on June 30, 1978. She died December 4, 2020, at the age of 100.
She graduated from Rumford Hospital School of Nursing in 1943 and joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1945. She was stationed at Ft. Williams, Cape Elizabeth, after World War II. She was later transferred to Manilla and then to an army hospital in Kyoto, Japan. When the Korean War broke out she was sent to Korea, arriving at the 8055 MASH on Thanksgiving Day 1950. She served six months in Korea and was then sent to Murphy Army Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts. She completed eight years active duty before leaving the military to begin a family.
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 1940, she joined the Army Nurse Corps. She entered active duty in February 1942. She served as a nurse in Arizona, Colorado and Texas in the States and then Ledo, India and Okinawa before being discharged in November 1945. She worked in the D.C. Health Department, Washington, D.C. and joined the Navy Reserve Nurse Corps. Later she rejoined the Army Nurse Corps and served at Ft. Hood, Texas and later in southern France. During the Korean War she served one year in a field training school in Deggendorf, Germany and then to Landstuhl. She received a Master's Degree from the University of Minnesota and then went to Fort Houston where she became a nurse at the base's health school for two years. She briefly served in the Korean War and became a chief nurse at Ft. Polk, Louisiana. She was then a nurse in Stuttgart, Germany. Esther Jane McNeil retired as a colonel in 1971.
Born August 03, 1928 in Boston, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of William F. and Helen M. Sullivan of Malden, Massachusetts. She graduated from Malden Catholic High School in 1947 and received her RN degree from Carney Hospital in Boston (1950). She joined the Navy in 1951 and was discharged in 1952. Following was a 47-year RN career. She married Conrad Charles Meijza, a US Navy master chief. He died in 1992. She then married USN LCDR (Ret.) Louis M. Tew in 2000. Helen died April 09, 2021.
Jacqueline M. Melvin, 99, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, died peacefully at her home on Sunday May 23, 2021. The former Jacqueline Marie Jacquet was born September 25, 1921 in Racine, Wisconsin, the daughter of Edward and Bertha (Olsen) Jacquet. She graduated from Edgerton High School in Edgerton, Wisconsin, and then from Ravenswood Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago, Illinois. On August 12, 1950, in Santa Ana, California, she was united in marriage to Col. Martin J. Melvin Jr. USMC: He precede her in death on August 21, 1997. She was a veteran of the United States Navy serving as a nurse during World War II and the Korean War. During World War II she was one of 108 flight nurses. She was involved in the evacuation of wounded Marines injured in the battle of Okinawa to safety She was a member of the Navy Nurses Corps Association. She was a very talented self-taught artist. Jacqueline is survived by: 7 children; Maureen (the late Dick) Christopher of Lafayette, Colorado, Karen (Russ) Lehman of Milton, Wisconsin, Colleen (LeRoy) Goff of Villa Park,. Illinois, Michael (Julie) Melvin of Manassas, Virginia, Thomas (Yeter) Melvin of North Charleston, South Carolina, Stephen Melvin of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and Susan (Robb) Bromley of Cary, Illinois, 14 grandchildren and 13, great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, a son Martin J. Melvin III and a brother Edward Jacquet and his wife Helen. Private family services with Military Honors will be held. Burial will be in Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.
She enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1952 at a nurse. Her duty station in Korea was at Kunsan, where she was in charge of a medical ward of a hospital.
Born July 17, 1929, Betty Ann was an Air Force nurse in Korea, stationed out of Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma. She served in Korea 1953-55. She was known as "Dusty the Singing Nurse" or the "Oklahoma Singing Nurse". She died April 08, 1976, and is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Apache, Oklahoma.
She was a nurse in World War II and Korea.
She was an Air Force flight nurse stationed at Berkeley, California and Edwards Air Force Base in 1953. Prior to that she was a nurse in Veterans Affairs hospitals.
Lieutenant Colonel Nichols was the daughter of Bernard and Esther Nichols. From 1945-47 she was with the US Cadet Nurses Corps, receiving her nurse's credentials in 1947 from Everett General Hospital School of Nursing. During World War II she bolted nose cones on B-17 bombers. She was chief nurse at the Army's 3rd Field Hospital on the outskirts of Pusan. She had overseen more than 10,000 patients by 1951, many of whom were prisoners of war. She received her captain's bars in Korea. After serving in Korea she served in Vietnam, where she received a Bronze Star. She retired in 1969.
Born February 2, 1927 in Charleston, West Virginia. She received a Registered Nurse degree from Fairmont State College and then joined the Army in 1949. She was stationed at Brook Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. She joined the Army Air Corps, which later became the Air Force. She attended Flight School in Montgomery, Alabama. After that she received orders to Hawaii and then to Japan. She was a flight nurse who helped take patients from holding stations in Korea to Japan for further treatment. In 1952 she married Kenneth Norwood Owens, an obstetrician who served in Korea and Japan. The couple had three children. Both left the military in 1959. Joan Owens died February 24, 2019 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Mrs. Panasik was born November 4, 1922, and passed away on May 2, 2014. She was married to Paul Panasik (1929-1996), and was the mother of Mary Ann Skok (Keith), Paul (Carol), Susan and Stephen (Cathy), and grandmother of Veronica and Elizabeth Skok. Her sister was Anna Marie Macatician and her brother was Joseph Farber. She was a veteran US Navy nurse in the Korean War. She is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to USO, 20637 Emerald Parkway Dr. 44135 Cleveland, OH or the Salvation Army, 12645 Lorain Avenue Cleveland, OH 44111. [Published in The Plain Dealer from May 6 to May 7, 2014]
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950.
She joined the army's Women's Medical Specialist Corps in 1952. She was in its physical therapy program. She was stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where she worked with burn patients and those with traumatic head injuries and amputees. Eleanor met her future husband while caring for him. He had lost both of his legs due to injuries in the Korean War.
She was a Korean War nurse.
She was a 1st Lieutenant at the 1st MASH unit in Korea.
Mary was born March 13, 1931 in New Jersey. She was a 1948 graduate of Washington High School and was an Army nurse at Ft. Dix during the Korean War. She died November 20, 2020 in New Jersey.
This Pensacola native enlisted in the Army Nurses Corps and served two years in the 43rd Surgical Hospital Mobile Army in Korea.
Born April 9, 1927 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she enlisted in the Cadet Corps in 1945 and was a member of the last class of the Cadet Corps at Western Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing. She graduated in 1948 and from November 7, 1950 to 1951 she was a nurse at the 10th Station Hospital, Pusan and Inchon, Korea.
She served in the Army Nurses Corps during World War II, Korea and Vietnam. She retired in 1973. In Korea she helped set up the first Army hospital.
She was stationed in Hawaii as a Navy nurse in World War II and then stayed in the reserves. She was recalled to active duty during the Korean War and was stationed on the hospital ship, USS Repose, anchored off the coast of Inchon.
Born July 8, 1927, Mary Jane attended St. Joseph Mercy College of Nursing at the University of Iowa. She did post-graduate surgery work at Cook County Hospital, Chicago and was a Lieutenant in the Air Force Nursing Corps during the Korean War. She remained in the Reserves after the war.
From the Veterans History Project website: "After three years of neurosurgical nurse work at a New York hospital, 24-year-old Regina Schiffman decided to make a career in the U.S. Army. A year after she enlisted, the U.S. was at war in Korea, and in the summer of 1951 she found herself working in the operating room of a MASH unit. Conditions were primitive in both the O.R. (litters were balanced on saw horses, a pot-bellied stove was the sole source of heat in the frigid winter) and in her tent (she bathed most of the time out of her helmet). But Schiffman drew strength from the selflessness of her mission and the camaraderie of her fellow nurses and the physicians." Schiffman served from 1949 to 1970. She was with the Army Nurse Corps in Korea 1950-53 and Vietnam beginning in 1961.
Born January 13, 1917, in Brooklyn, Catherine moved to Bellmore in 1928. She graduated from The Mary Immaculate School of Nursing, Jamaica, New York and did her Post Graduate work in Public Health Nursing at St. John's University, Brooklyn. Former Supervisor of surgery at the South Nassau Communities Hospital, Oceanside, New York, she was appointed as a Public Health Nurse with the Nassau County Department of Health. Catherine entered the Army Nurse Corps as a Second Lieutenant and reported to England General Hospital, Atlantic City, New Jersey for basic training. She was assigned to Mason General Hospital, Brentwood, NY as Head Supervisor of Neuropsychiatric wards and was promoted to First Lieutenant. She was assigned to the Sixth Station Hospital at Fort Lewis, Washington and later she served at Okinawa and Korea. Upon returning from Korea, she married Lieutenant Ernest J. Schneider of North Bellmore, a teacher in Mepham Central High School, North Bellmore who remained active in the Bellmore Fire Department, was Ex-Chief, past Grand Knight, Eucharistic Minister at St. Barnabas Church until his death in 1999. She gave birth to her daughter Patricia in 1951. In later years, she was elected Commander of Nassau County Veteran's Women's Post 1147 for three years. On a county level, she was appointed Chairman of Women's Veterans of Nassau County. She died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 91. She was buried in St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale. [Source: Newsday (Long Island, New York) - Wednesday, April 16, 2008]
Colonel Scott was the fourth chief nurse of the US Air Force. She was instrumental in writing the first flight nurse manual which, with periodic revisions, still serves as the basic guide for flight nurses. She established the first course for aerospace nursing at Patrick Air Force Base in FL, which prepares nurses to support the preflight and post-flight programs of the manned spaceflights. Born in Yonkers, New York on August 23, 1916, her family moved to Ohio and then settled in Bad Axe, Michigan, while she was still young. She and her twin sister graduated from Owendale High School in 1934, and attended St. Mary's Hospital School of Nursing in Detroit. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Catholic University in Washington, DC. She entered the Army in February 1942 and was assigned to the Army Air Forces at Chanute Field in Illinois. Her experiences with flight nursing duties aboard C-47 aircraft began when she was transferred to a temporary camp at Noumea, New Caledonia. Returning to the United States, she attended a flight nursing course and received her wings. She was assigned to Palm Springs, California, as Chief Flight Nurse in November 1944, then to Stockton, California, as Chief Nurse, and then to Ferrying Division of the Domestic Air Evacuation Command in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Command Flight Nurse. She was assigned to the first aeromedical evacuation unit to enter the South Pacific later that year. In August 1946, she transferred to Guam as Command, West Pacific Chief Nurse of Western Air Training Command. She returned to Hickam Air Force base in Hawaii as Chief Nurse. She served as Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) Command Nurse in Japan, and was selected as Chief Nurse of Army Air Forces Nursing Corps. She attempted to gain higher rank for nurses and Nurse Corps finally got a general slot when Colonel Hoefly was promoted. From her experience evacuating combat victims from the field, often under harrowing circumstances, she returned to the US as instructor of the flight nurse course at the School of Aviation Medicine at Fort Rucker, Alabama. In 1955, she was made the officer responsible for the worldwide assignment of more than 3,000 nurses. Later, she was assigned to the Pentagon as deputy chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps. In 1960, she was assigned as command nurse for the Pacific Command and after three years returned to the Pentagon as chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps in 1963. She retired from the Air Force in 1968. She received her master's degree in nursing administration from Catholic University in the early 1970s. After her military retirement, she resided in Silver Spring, Maryland, and became a stockbroker and financial planner. She was a member of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. She was also past president of the Fairfax County Business and Professional Women's Club and a recipient of its Woman of the Year award. She was director of the Air Force Nurse Corps Foundation and a charter member of the Aerospace Medical Association. She was a member and officer of many other military organizations, including the Military Order of the World Wars, the American Legion, the Society of Retired Air Force Nurses, the World War II Flight Nurses Association, the Military Order of the Carabao and the Guadalcanal Campaign Veterans. Among her awards were the Legion of Merit and the Air Force Commendation Medal. She was predeceased by her parents, Louis and Susan (Kriston) Kovach, and six brothers: Alonzo, Joseph, Frank, Louis, William, and George Kovach. Survivors include her husband of 37 years, Colonel Winfield W. Scott USAF (Ret) [deceased 6/2006]; her sisters: twin sister, Helen K Spaulding [deceased 11/2005], and Margaret P Haslett [deceased 5/2012]; a stepson; a stepdaughter; and three grandchildren.[Source: Findagrave]
"Agnes G. Shurr, retired Professor of Nursing, died Saturday, January 10, 2015, in Valley Memorial Home Eldercare, Grand Fork. Agnes Shurr was born on October 18, 1915, to Fredrick and Helen Shurr, on a farm in Elmo Township, Bottineau County, North Dakota. She graduated from high school in Glenburn, North Dakota. After graduating from Glenburn High School Agnes began her life of service to others. She entered St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing, the same nursing school her mother had attended. Upon receiving her degree, she worked at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Agnes enlisted in the United States Navy Nurse Corps on March 1, 1937. She was on the Hospital Ship Solace stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. She became a flight nurse during the Korean War, airlifting badly injured military personnel from various military hospitals in Japan, to Tripler Hospital in Hawaii then to Travers Air Force in California. In 1947 she completed an anesthesia program at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, and served as anesthetist at naval hospitals in Houston and Bethesda. In 1950 she earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Columbia University, and then completed a flight nursing course. She served as flight nurse to evaluate wounded servicemen from Korea. In 1954 she was transferred to the hospital ship Haven in Long Beach, California, and became Chief of Nursing Service and anesthetist in 1956. When she retired in 1958 she had earned the rank of Commander in the Nurse Corps. While in the Navy she was trained as a nurse anesthetist. Upon retirement from the navy, she returned to Grand Forks, to start a school for nurse anesthetists at St. Michael’s Hospital. Agnes left St. Michael’s in 1963 to join the World Health Organization. She was sent by WHO to Afghanistan for two years. Agnes then attended Columbia University and earned her master’s degree. In 1967 she accepted an appointment ot the faculty at the College of Nursing, where she was later promoted to professor. She served as curriculum consultant, coordinator of the sophomore nursing course, and represented the College and faculty on numerous committees. She retired in 1977. After her retirement from UND, she spent time volunteering in the Same Day Surgery at Altru Hospital. Her life was spent in loving service to this nation, her family, and educating young people to also serve in medicine. Living in Grand Forks or stationed around the world, “Aunt Aggie” was always a vital, loving, supportive, member to her large extended family. Her love, kindness and support will be truly missed by all the members of this family. Many thanks for the years of care and kindness shown to Aggie by her niece Marion Hahn and the Hahn family. She is survived by a sister, Mary Jane Gall and 14 nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Hazel O’Connell, Harriet Shurr, brother Raymond “Pug” Shurr, and two nephews, Edward O’Connell and Joe O’Connell. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Saturday, January 17, in Amundson Funeral Home of Grand Forks. Visitation will be for the hour before the service in the funeral home. Military honors will be conducted by representatives of the U.S. Navy and the North Dakota Army National Guard. Burial will be in the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery of Mandan." [Source: University Letter, University of North Dakota: Remembering Agnes Shurr]
As a nurse with the Army Nurse Corps (ANC), 1st Lieutenant Smarz was one of the 13 nurses (the Lucky 13) who were deployed to Korea with the 7th Infantry Division. She was posted to the 1st Mobile Army Surgical Hospital after her arrival in Korea on September 15, 1950. From Inchon the Lucky 13 moved to Pusan. They had to take cover on October 9, 1950 when they came under fire.
Virginia Rosebud Sneed Dixon, age 101, died Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021 at the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Black Mountain. She was a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the daughter of the late Cam and Minda Sneed of Cherokee. “Boss”, as she was called by family and friends, was born and raised in Cherokee and attended the Cherokee Boarding School through 6th grade. She graduated from Cherokee High School in 1938 and went to nursing school in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1942, she joined the Army Nurse Corps and was stationed at Camp Lee, Virginia, then assigned to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. during World War II. She was later assigned to a field hospital on the Burma Road in China. After three years of civilian life, she rejoined the Army Nurse Corps and was assigned to the 171 Evac Hospital during the Korean War. She returned to the States in 1952 and was married in Fort Benning, Georgia in 1954. Virginia is survived by her son, Earle C. Dixon of Cherokee, his wife, Rosamond Dixon of Albuquerque, New Mexuci; daughter, Pegge M. Dixon of Leicester; and grandson, Matthew D. Hollifield of Asheville. She was preceded in death by her husband, Col. David. W. Dixon, and also by all of her siblings: Carrie, Ernest, Pokie, Patrick, Claudie, Marie, Sonny, Hooter, and Priscilla.
Lt. Col. Hazel I. Snowden was from Harmony, Massachusetts. She joined the Army Nurse Corps in April 1942 and served for over 20 years. She served as a chief nurse in Korea during the war for a 60-bed Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). She noted that the work she saw done by both doctors and nurses, without full hospital equipment, was miraculous. She died July 8, 2005. [Source: US Army Women's Foundation]
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950
Captain Sweeney (AN) cared for the wounded in World War II and the Korean War.
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950.
Nurse in Korea during the Korean War.
Major Visnovsky was born February 16, 1919 and died July 20, 1987. She is buried in Saint John Cantius Catholic Church Cemetery, Windber, Pennsylvania. She was an Air Force flight evacuation nurse in World War II and the Korean War.
Cpl. Arline H. Wall was born in Brooklyn, New York. She was a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in education. She enlisted in the WAC during the Korean War and was trained in the medical field. She qualified as a licensed practical nurse. She served in Okinawa and Japan where she met her husband. She was a proud veteran who assisted others. She died at the Armed Forces Retirement Home, Washington, D.C. on May 15, 2006. [Source: US Army Women's Foundation]
Col. Marian Waterhouse, US Army Nurse Corps, Retired, passed away peacefully at the age of 97 on July 30, 2019, from age-related illnesses. She was born July 6, 1922, in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing in 1945. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education in 1955 at the University of Minnesota, and her Master of Education degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX in 1958. After receiving her RN in 1945, she immediately joined the Army Nurse Corps during World War II. Marian served in Italy, Korea, and two tours in Germany, as well many stations within the United States. She started and developed the nurse anesthetist program for the military. She authored a book, "Practical Mathematics in Allied Health" that was published in several editions. Marian served as the Director of the Army Medical School of Anesthesiology for the Army Nurse Corps Officers during the final six years of her 30-year military career. She received multiple military awards during her career, including the Legion of Merit award. She was respected throughout her career by her colleagues, and the many students who benefited from her teaching, and the example that she set. Following her retirement, she lived in San Diego, California caring for her parents. Following their death, she returned to San Antonio and served as a volunteer keeping medical records for Sisters Care of San Antonio. Marian touched the lives of her retired military community, the Presentation Sisters, neighbors, and the many friends that she made through St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church and elsewhere. Her warm smile, many stories, and sense of humor will be missed by all of those who knew her. Marian was preceded in death by her parents, Merrill and Margaret Waterhouse; her sisters, Jean Walther and Harriet Waterhouse; her brother, Merrill C. Waterhouse; and her nephews, Jonathan Waterhouse, and John Walther. She is survived by her nephew, Merrill Waterhouse of Escondido, California, and several great nieces and nephews. [Source: obituary]
Born August 11, 1916, in Richmond, Virginia, she was a daughter of Arthur Dexter Watson (1885-1960) and Opal Fay Harshbarger Watson (1888-1977). She was a World War II veteran and in the Korean War she was a Lieutenant Commander on the hospital ship USS Consolation. She married Charles Amos Etheridge, who was also in the Navy. Frances died June 29, 1998, in Richmond and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Richmond. Her sister was Ruth Lydia Watson, a Korean War veteran.
Ruth was born April 21, 1923, in Richmond City, Virginia. She was a Hospital Apprentice First Class during the Korean War. She married Abraham Lincoln Boyd (1922-1997) in 1949. Ruth died September 23, 1997, and is buried in Stanley Cemetery, Hiram, Maine.
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950.
Major Weinstein was a nurse in San Francisco's Letterman Army Hospital caring for Korean War wounded.
Miss Ulrich graduated from General Hospital School of Nursing in 1948 and served as a Navy Nurse Corps nurse during the Korean War. She was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, for two years where she cared for wounded Korean War veterans. She later married Frank Wells and left the Navy in 1956 when she became pregnant with her first child.
Nurse, 121st Evacuation Hospital, Korea 1950.
"Valedda "Val" A. Wilson, 92, died Tuesday, June 8, 2021, at home. She was born October 9, 1928, in Bijou Hills, South Dakota, to the late Frederick and Therese (Polenz) Kiehn. Val was a graduate of Chamberlain High School in South Dakota. After high school, she graduated from nursing school in Sioux City, Iowa. Val joined the U. S. Air Force in 1950 and served as an operating room nurse in Korea during the Korean War. After the war, she remained in the Air Force and studied anesthesia in Texas. In 1959, she married a pilot, Donald Lloyd Wilson (Abrams, WI) in California. Three children were born with lots of relocating afterward. In 1970, they and their children moved to Wisconsin. From 1973 until her retirement in 1990, Val worked as a CRNA at Bellin Hospital. She was a very dedicated mother and helped her children get higher educations. She was a member of the National 20&4 Honor Society of Women Legionnaires, the Women's VFW Post #539, and helped to make upgrades to the Altrusa House. Val loved spending her time sewing, crocheting, knitting and tatting. She enjoyed cooking and working in her yard. During her retirement, she took Elderhostel programs and traveled around the country. She also babysat her two grandsons in Wisconsin for the first two years of their lives. Valedda is survived by her children, Eric Wilson (FL), Delano (Nickie) Wilson (CO), and Genevieve (Glenn) Tisler (WI); her grandchildren, Nicole (Chris) (FL), Logan(IL), Peter (CO), Hannah (CO), Casey (WI), and Steven (WI); a great-grandchild, Jameson (FL), (and one more on the way); many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her brother and sister, Virgil Kiehn (SD), Ethel (Darrell) Naber (MI), and her former husband, Donald (TX). Friends may call at Proko-Wall Funeral Home, 1630 E. Mason Street, on Sunday, June 20th from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. A Memorial Service will be held at 5:00 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. Entombment will be in Allouez Chapel Mausoleum. On-line condolences may be given at www.prokowall.com. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to benefit local veterans' groups and the Altrusa House." [Source: Obituary]
USAF (Ret.) Wright was an Air Force nurse from 1951 to 1977.
Colonel Zeller was commissioned as a general duty nurse in the Army Medical Department's Nurse Corps at Fort Riley, Kansas in June of 1936. She was transferred to Sternberg General Hospital in Manila in July 1939 and remained there until October 1941. She was the last nurse to leave the Philippines before the Japanese invasion. In June of 1946 she completed the US Army Air Force' School of Aviation Medicine's Flight Nurse Course at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas. She later served with Military Air Transport Service. She was promoted to captain and in January 1949 she was assigned to the Air Surgeon's office. Six months later she was transferred from the Army to the Air Force. In 1949 she became the first chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in April 1950. In August of 1951 she was promoted to Colonel. She retired in 1956 and died in 2007.