Army Nurse Corps: Celebrating 111 years of proud service

By Lt. Col. Nancy A. Cantrell (Army Nurse Corps Historian)February 2, 2012

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FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- In 1899, the Army Surgeon General set criteria for a reserve force of nurses. The Spanish-American war proved that without a reserve force, there would be a nursing shortage during wartime. On Feb. 2, 1901, the Nurse Corps (female) became a permanent corps of the Medical Department under the Army Reorganization Act passed by Congress.

After the start of World War I, the Army's Department of Medical Relief worked with the American Red Cross to establish base hospitals in Europe, initially designated to serve the British expeditionary forces. Due to increased needs of military nurses in the war effort, the Army Nurse Corps increased from approximately 4,100 to 21,460 between 1917 and 1918. They served at base and evacuation hospitals in Europe as well as transport ships, hospital trains in France and mobile surgical hospitals stateside.

Army nurses worked tirelessly during World War II, often enduring the same hardships as combat troops. Sixty-seven Army nurses were held as Japanese prisoners of war for 37 months in the Philippines after the fall of Corregidor in 1942, during which they continued to care for the wounded. Nurses played an integral role in medical advancements: access to care closer to the front lines, advanced surgical procedures and post-surgical nursing, the administration of blood products and improvements in evacuation procedures led to greatly improved survival rates. Fixed wing air evacuations moved the wounded to definitive care more quickly, and flight nursing was born.

In June of 1950, North Korean communists crossed the 38th parallel, and President Truman ordered troops into South Korea for what has been known as "The Forgotten War" of Korea. The first U.S. Army combat forces arrived from Japan on July 6, 1950 with 57 nurses, the day after Task Force Smith engaged in the Battle of Osan, the first U.S. ground action of the war. Army nurses worked throughout the Korean Peninsula in forward deployed mobile army surgical hospitals.

On Aug. 9, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed H.R. 2559, the bill that authorized reserve commissions to male nurses.

Army nurses were deployed during the Vietnam War (1960-1975), beginning in 1965 during the rapid build-up of American forces. Trauma care specialization and an evolution of casualty care was a result of the Army Nurse Corps experience in Vietnam.

Operation Desert Shield/Storm (1990-1991) heralded a new era in trauma care, and the Army Nurse Corps led the way once again in cutting edge technology and critical care. Approximately 2,200 Army nurses served in 44 hospitals, some part of joint operations with host nations. Wounds were now more prevalent to the extremities and new types of traumatic injuries resulted in the need for more advanced protective gear. Army Nurses quickly adapted to the changing battle environment by deploying the Deployable Medical Systems, or DEPMEDS, and enhancing trauma training for critical care nurses deployed to theater in subsequent campaigns. Since Desert Storm, Army nurses have deployed to theaters in Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and for disaster relief and humanitarian efforts worldwide.

The current operations tempo requires a flexible and technologically advanced Army Nurse Corps. Army nurses serve with dignity and courage, continually striving for excellence. The Army Nurse Corps continues its transformation as a leading military heath care force in the 21st century, a time of great change and opportunity and celebrates 111 years of proud service.

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