by Donna Ryan

Created on: May 31, 2011

The Beginning of the Corp

The Army Nurse Corps has been serving the needs of enlisted men and women from its inception in 1901. Since that time, nurses in the Corps have shown their devotion to caring for the sick and injured during times of war as well as after natural disasters. Nurses, though, have always served in the Army and have been doing so since the Revolutionary War. Nurses at that time, received $2 per month and and one food ration per day. The establishment of an Army Corps of Women Nurses was instituted after the 1898 Spanish-American conflict. Men were not included in Corps activities until after the Korean War.

World War I

In 1917 during World War I, a little less than 5,000 Army nurses were listed as active. However, by late fall of the following year, that number made a dramatic climb as twenty thousand nurses were on the Army’s payroll (10,000 of whom were working overseas). During that period, nurses were stationed mainly at evacuation, base, and mobile surgical medical facilities in the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, France, and the U.S. Nurses also provided care to wounded soldiers on ships in the Atlantic and on trains designed for that purpose in France.

World War II

Again, when the U.S. entered into World War II, there were only a small number of nurses (7,000) listed as active. However, that figure soon rose as approximately 50,000 more nurses were listed on the duty roster by 1945. Nurses, during the Second World War, served at home and abroad, on ships, in field hospitals, on planes, at evacuation bases, and in foreign and U.S. medical facilities.

Air Evacuation – An Amazing Record

Across the seas, nurses serving in the Army in Europe during the Second World War helped in the formation of recovery wards for postoperative care. The nursing field during this time, enlarged on its understanding of blood transfusion, resuscitation, and shock treatment and therapy. Air emergency evacuation from the war zone enabled patients to be transported to the required treatment facility almost immediately. Because of the nurses who worked on these flights, only five deaths occurred per 100,000 patients during the entire conflict.

A Brave Record of Service

Nurses too endured the hardships of battle when treating patients during the war. For example, almost 70 nurses became Japanese prisoners of war during the collapse of the Corregidor Island in the Philippines. During their impoundment, the nurses had little food to eat and were made

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