Profiles
If you are a U.S. Cadet Nurse or know one, we would like to include your story on this page. Let us know by contacting us here.
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Margaret Meyer Cadet Nurse Petersburg General Hospital, Petersburg, Virginia I served in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps from 1943-1946. My sister Rosalie and I were interested in nursing, and the Cadet Nurse Corps gave us a great opportunity. Our schooling was paid for by the government to help with the nurse shortage due to WWII. Rosalie was about a year behind me in school. My schooling took place at Petersburg General Hospital, Petersburg, VA. The hospital sent me for specialty training rotations for 3 months in pediatrics at Bainbridge Children's Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, then 2 months for OB at Lying-In, Pennsyvania University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA. In addition, my sister Rosalie and I did a psychiatric training rotation. I then graduated as a Registered Nurse. My sister and I went to Florida for one winter, working nights as nurses and enjoying the beaches during the day. Margaret Meyer Polglase:
Rosalie Meyer Bean:
I wrote letters to my mom and dad during my Cadet Nurse Corps years. My mom kept them all, and I got them back when my mom passed away. Letter Notables:
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Donna Jean Price Nielsen Cadet Nurse Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, D.C. This is Donna Jean Price and her mother, Grace Cheney Price. There were in the Cadet Nurse Corps together.
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Wilma Slates Arpen Cadet Nurse Aultman Hospital School of Nursing Wilma Lydia Slates was a farm girl from Carrollton, Ohio who graduated from Carrollton High School in 1942. She was able to have the opportunity to become a Registered Nurse because of this program. The war ended before she completed the program, but she did complete it and had a long career in nursing. She worked in Pittsburgh in hospitals and as a school nurse and also in Florida as an office nurse for 25 years with one primary care physician, Dr. S. Joseph Bailey, in Mandarin, Florida. She lives in Mandarin today, 2020, and is 96 years old. On Dec. 7, 2019, she was honored for her service by the Mandarin Museum & Historical Society, along with 5 other World War II veterans, including a Cadet Nurse Corps member who trained in Iowa.
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Frances Maricich Jones Relative of a Cadet Nurse Columbus School of Nursing, Great Falls, Montana Mom left the small mining town of Anaconda, Montana, and traveled to Great Falls to join the Corps. We know nothing of her time there and would like to learn more. Mom was born in Anaconda to John Maricich and Anne Kralich. After marrying, she relocated with Dad to California and eventually to Seattle.
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Mary Sciarrone Sorlete Relative of a Cadet Nurse Women's Homeopathic Hospital School of Nursing Mary Sciarrone Sorlete graduated Women's Homeopathic Hospital Nursing School in 1948.
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Eleanor Julia Puczolowska Hillegas Cadet Nurse The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing My 23 classmates and I felt very worthwhile and needed up to the day of our graduation in September 1947. My dates of service as a U.S. Cadet Nurse are: September 1, 1944 through October 9, 1947. I was one of a few who married shortly after graduation. My husband, Harold B. Hillegas, qualified for a G.I. loan after his WWII service in the European Theatre. We moved into our new home in February 1948. It was the first house built in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, built on farmland for post-war housing development. My husband and I shared 27 happily married years until his death in 1975, and I celebrated my 68th anniversary in our home in February 2016.
My post-war career began as a medical/surgical nurse in the local hospital, then onward to work with a family physician as his office nurse. I was also one of three (3) RNs to aid in Harleysville’s first ambulance (a donated former hearse) service with 24/7 nursing service. We provided coverage one week at a time and alternating for twenty (20) years of volunteer community service. Meanwhile my husband and I began our family, a lovely daughter, Ferne Eileen. Needless to say, I wanted my Obstetrician Chief of Staff for the delivery. It was a treacherous night ride to Philadelphia from Harleysville in the midst of a historical snowstorm for the area in November 1953. A neighbor friend drove my husband and I to the hospital -all of us crowded on the front bench seat of the car. My husband urged me to pursue the opportunity given for school nursing in 1963. I was doing a part-time in geriatric and as an office nurse for a local insurance company at that time. I found my niche in school nursing, all of 27 years. Upon my retirement I was able to purchase three (3) additional years to count toward my retirement because of service in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. During student training, I had two (2) roommates . Helene Cerankowski Chernoff, of Philadelphia, PA, married, and had two (2) children, a son and daughter. Helene lived and died in New Jersey. Josephine Peckiconis "Peck" Ahlum, of Perkasie, PA, married and had five (5) children, three (3) daughters and fraternal twin sons. Peck lived and died in Quakertown, PA, in January 2017. Another classmate, Marion Russo Bogden, of Norristown, PA, married and settled in New Jersey. In the last years of her life she lived with her son in Chaska, Minnesota and died in May 2015. On Saturday, 26-Apr-2014, I attended my 70th Girls High School (Philadelphia, PA) reunion. It was wonderful to enjoy time once again at the reunion with my 10 classmates of the original graduating class of 181. Girls High School is where it all began. My city high school education afforded me the opportunity to apply and be accepted into the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. Years later in the midst of conversation during an interview and based upon my graduation from Girls High School, I was accepted to begin undergraduate studies for a B.S. degree at West Chester State University (West Chester, PA). My education experience later included graduation with a master’s equivalency in Education from Penn State (Abington campus, PA), and a Master's Degree in Nursing Education from Villanova University (Villanova, PA).
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Beverly Nordquist Holtan Cadet Nurse, Relative of a Cadet Nurse Bismarck Evangelical Hospital School of Nursing
When the opportunity to join the Cadet Nurses Corps came along she was interested because of the shortage of money at home. She joined the Cadet Nurses Corps July 1, 1943, and finished her senior year of nursing school at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital (a U. S. Army facility located on 577 acres in Aurora, Colorado, USA that opened in 1918 and closed 1999). (World War II was in progress) Tim (my youngest brother) remembers hearing her tell a story about her two brothers, Spence and Stork, who told her in no uncertain terms that she “absolutely would not join either the Army (Spence) or Navy (Stork)” at the end of the program. This advice came by way of letters from her brothers. She told me she got $30/month as well as housing, uniforms, fees and free tuition. Their uniforms were gray and consisted of a skirt, jacket (with epaulettes) and cap. Work uniforms were white or in Bev’s case scrubs for surgery. Bev went to Aurora all by herself, traveling by train. She remembers awful coffee, thick with cream and sugar and lots of people and lots of smoke. She had a berth for sleeping and remembers the clunking and rattling of the train all the way. She is pretty sure the army paid for her train trip to CO. At Fitzsimons Army Hospital she chose to work in surgery and was there from the time of her arrival until graduation. She shared that when she and fellow nurses walked down the streets of the base that enlisted folks saluted them. They also were welcome at the Officer’s Club. She got her diploma after 3 yrs. schooling at the cost of $300 total plus any tuition she received from the army. She went back to Bismarck for graduation in October 1944.
After graduation her friend Darlene (who did not join the Cadet Nursing Corps and finished nursing school in Bismarck) decided to return to Fitzsimmons with her. Mom talked about the two of them flying into Billings in a small airplane and landing high on the buttes and that it was scary It was the first time flying for both of them. They took another plane into Denver. They both went to work at Fitzsimon’s Army Hospital with Mom working as a civilian nurse, no longer connected to the Cadet Nurse Corps. Her wage was $8.00 a day. She returned to surgery until she went to see a doctor about recurring abdominal pain and was diagnosed with chronic appendicitis. She as told that if she was going to work overseas that she needed to have her appendix removed. She had surgery in late October or early November and was not allowed to return to work for nearly a month. She did not return to surgery, instead they gave her “light duty”. That job consisted of being in charge of three units of approx. 24 soldiers each. She was working nights and her job was to make round and check on these folks. During this period of time she got pulled off that job to work in the emergency room at the base (this for a very short time) and it was during this time that she met General Dwight Eisenhower and wife Mamie when they brought their son into the ER because of burns that needed treating. Beverly left the Cadet Nurse Corps in October of 1944, at graduation from nursing school. She did not leave Fitzsimmon’s until February 1945.
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Frances Giffen Wynona Cadet Nurse Bethesda Hospital School of Nursing Frances is of sound mind and remembers training.
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Helen Ruth Luco Woolley Cadet Nurse Providence Hospital, Waco, Texas Helen's daughter reports: Helen Luco graduated from West High School at the age of 16 in 1943. One of her sisters was a teacher and two were enrolled in nurses training. Helen said that teaching didn't interest her so she decided to follow in the footsteps of her older sister. In addition, there was a great demand for nurses because of World War II. She applied for nurses' training in Waco, but she was turned down because of her age. Her oldest sister was in the Army, and she offered to pay for Helen to attend college. She went to North Texas State Teacher's College in Denton, Texas. She spent a year there taking classes that would help her in nurses' training. Helen's professional training was paid for through the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. According to the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps website, "the Cadet Nurse Corps was a massive and important federal program for the training of American nurses during the second World War. Cadet Nurses were the largest and youngest group of uniformed women to serve their country. It was a time when nursing students lived together in nurse residences, when the boys went off to ware, and when Cadets dared for civilians at home and those who returned home after being injured in battle." Helen reapplied for nurses' training at Providence Hospital in Waco and was accepted. She was also accepted by the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. In the beginning, she received a monthly stipend of $15. From 15-21 months, the stipend was $20 per month and increased to $30 permonth as a senior cadet. About sixty students enrolled in the class, but only 33 completed the course of study.
Because Providence was a Catholic hospital, the students were required to attend chapel every morning. Following that, there was inspection of uniforms by the nuns. Helen recalled being taken aside because her shoe strings were not clean enough. Most of their time was spent in class. There was no disposable equipment so students were taught sterilization methods using an autoclave. They rotated through different hospital units. While at Providence, Helen lived in the nurses' quarters, which was a room full of girls supervised by a house mother. They ate in the hospital dining room. There wasn't much time for fun, and Helen only saw her family if they came to visit her. She was in training for three years and at the end of that time, the students traveled to Dallas to take the State Board exam. She said that it seemed like an eternity before the grades arrived, but when they did, there was a lot of whooping and hollering by those who passed and some crying by those who failed. After graduation, Helen tool some time off and did private-duty nursing. She applied for a job at the VA Hospital in Temple, Texas, in 1948. U.S. Army McCloskey General Hospital was transitioning from an army hospital to a veterans' hospital to receive the amputee veterans from the second World War. She began her career at the VA Hospital on September 20, 1948. She met Aubrey Lee Woolley, who was a nursing assistant, and they married in 1950. They each worked for the Veterans Administration for 30 years. |
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Jane Fasano Crochiere Cadet Nurse, Relative of a Cadet Nurse Cochran School of Nursing, St. John's Riverside Hospital, Yonkers, New York My mom is 93 and graduated from Cadet Nursing in 1946. She worked until 1980 and raised 6 kids with my dad, who she met and married in Yonkers. She has 17 grand kids, 37 great grand kids, and 3 great, great grand kids. Two daughters are nurses. Two grand daughters are also nurses. We'll wait and see how many more will follow in her footsteps. Mom grew up with no money, in the Adirondack mountains, and the Cadet Nurse Corps afforded her an education. Her life has been amazing. Story books are written about, and too long to go into detail. Just thought people should know about her. |
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Virginia Dunklin Fonte Relative of a Cadet Nurse University of Michigan Cadet Nurse Virginia Dunklin's Membership Card and sleeve patch. Virginia would have worn the sleeve patch on her hospital uniform.
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Rosemary Wood Relative of a Cadet Nurse Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania What a wonderful website! I had no idea there were so many different training programs for the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. My mother, Martha Withers Agner, trained at Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1943-1946. She cherished her experiences and the friends that she made during that time. She left us a treasure in that she published a Book of Letters (171 pages of them), which she wrote to her family during her nursing training. A photocopy of The Episcopalian yearbook with personal handwritten remarks from her fellow cadets is included at the back of the book. A further description of the book follows: A Book of Letters
Written During World War II - 1943-1946 Copyright 2007 A sequel to From Whence I Came, a book that describes Martha's experience growing up in Spencer, NC, A Book of Letters picks up the story and provides a youthful perspective of a small town girl, Martha, in the big city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during one off the most pivotal eras in American history, World War II. Compiled from the letters Martha wrote during her accelerated nursing training at Episcopal Hospital, A Book of Letters allows the reader to become immersed int he cultural experience of the times while enjoying the midnset and antics of teenage Martha. Life explodes for the small town girl as she discovers the Jersey Shore and Philadelphia nighlife during her time off from the rigors of nursing classes and working on the hospital ward. 210 pages $35 + shipping If anyone would like to purchase a copy, please contact me by e-mail at rosemarywood7554@att.net
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Gertrude Reed Fremont Cadet Nurse Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing, Dayton, Ohio I'm 91 years old. The Cadet years were educational and formative years. I married in 1947 to a returned veteran. We both then graduated from the University of Dayton. We settled in Greenville, South Carolina. My husband became a dean of Education at Bob Jones University, and I co-authored the proposal for the now current Nursing School at BJU. My husband died from a WWII cause. Memorable experiences at both Miami Valley Hospital and the University of Wisconsin was working with polio patients in respirator. |
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Aileen Sterchi Dohm Cadet Nurse Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri I have always felt so grateful for this opportunity to receive my nursing education through this program. I would be interested in any reunion of other Cadet Nurse Corps nurses. I know of another Cadet Nurse in the Springfield, Missouri, area. |
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Virginia Spohn Doherty Cadet Nurse St. Charles Hospital School of Nursing, Aurora, Illinois I entered St. Charles Hospital School of Nursing in Aurora, Illinois, in August of 1944 as a member of the Cadet Nurse Corps. I graduated in June of 1947. Shortly after that I went to work at the Harris Hospital in Mendota, Illinois. The hospital was a large old home that had been converted to a hospital much as many hospitals of the era in the small towns. The Hospital was owned by Dr. Charles Harris. Everyone called him "Doc Charley." He and another Dr. -- Dr. Musick ran the hospital and were responsible for the health care of a large rural area at that time. He knew me since I was a child, and all the time I was employed there he always addressed me as "kid"! I don't know if he ever really remembered my first name. I married my husband the following May and moved to Peoria, Illinois, where he was a GI student finishing a degree at Bradley University. I was so surprised to find the publications concerning the Cadet Nurse Corps on the Internet. I really did not know there was any current data on the Corps and was delighted with my findings. I immediately ordered -- and have received three of the publications. Now, at the age of 91, I just hope I get them all read. Thank you for updating me with a most memorable time of my life. My nursing career has offered me a continuum of continuing learning experiences for most of my life. I continued to work part time until I was 73 years of age and can truthfully say -- I have often wondered why I retired. |
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Bernice Stricker Vertner Cadet Nurse St. Joseph's School of Nursing, Ashland, Wisconsin My high school principal encouraged me to enlist in the Cadet Nurse program. I am so thankful to him. The war was over before I graduated; however, we spent the last six months of our training education working in I continued my education in nursing and became a professor of nursing at the University of Washington. |
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Anna Marie (Nancy) Rice Rodgers Cadet Nurse, Relative of a Cadet Nurse Ohio Valley Nursing School, McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania A daughter writes: My mom entered service October 7, 1943. I'm creating a family genealogy and would love to know more about any of her friends during her service in the Corps and her nursing program at Ohio Valley Nursing School. Thanks! |
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Thena Palnick-Bamber Cadet Nurse Trinity Lutheran Hospital, Minot, North Dakota If it had not been for the Cadet program, I probably would not have been a nurse for 39 years, and I enjoyed all the years. I never retired but quit when I was 82. My years were all spent working at hospitals in a variety of units. In 1975 several nurses and myself were involved in bringing hospice to the USA. Hospice was started in England and then in '75 came to the state of Connecticut, and Oregon was the second state to have hospice. It was a struggle to orient doctors, nurses, and the public to what Hospice is. I used to say, "Doctors are not ordering it because they didn't even know how to spell it." Because my dad had colon cancer, I determined to go to Tucson, AZ, and learn how to care for patients who had their bowel or bladder diverted to an ostomy either temporarily or permanently. I was the first RN in 6 Northwest states to become an Ostomy and wound specialist. Now there probably is not a hospital that is without an ostomy tech. Once a nurse and you will always be a nurse, so there is no such a thing "like a retired nurse." If it had not been for the Cadet program in World War II, I wouldn't have ever been a nurse. Now I can say I loved every minute of my career.
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Mary Bencomo Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother was a Cadet Nurse during WWII. She was a student at Brighton Marine Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1944. She continued with the U.S. Public Health Service after the war and came to Sells, Arizona, due to a Typoid outbreak. She was very proud of her work in epidemiology on the Indian reservations. |
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Phyllis LeShane Anderson Cadet Nurse, Relative of a Cadet Nurse Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing, Boston, Massachusetts Phyllis attended Massachusetts General Hospital's school of nursing in Boston. She graduated in 1948. |
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Lauretta Vandock Brehm Cadet Nurse Flower Hospital School of Nursing, Toledo, Ohio Lauretta went to Flower Hospital School of Nursing in Toledo, Ohio. She graduated in 1947. |
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Jonny Lou Cole Kealhofer Cadet Nurse Memphis Baptist Hospital School of Nursing, Memphis, Tennessee Jonny Lou Cole Kealhofer was a Cadet Nurse at Memphis Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in Tennessee. She graduated in 1947. |
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Vivian A. Harper Cofield Cadet Nurse Edward J Meyer Memorial Hospital, Buffalo, New York Arlone L. Cofield, BSN, RN, shared this story about her mother:
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Florine (Sue) Siff Harowitz Cadet Nurse Mt. Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, Baltimore, Maryland Sue Harowitz was a Cadet Nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Sue reminds us of the words of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps March: Verse: The Maltese Cross in marching again, CHORUS: W're the Cadets, we're in the Corps We serve our land with mind and hand Program for the Capping Exercise of Sue's Class of September 1947 |
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Charlotte Dubois Harris Cadet Nurse, Friend of a Cadet Nurse Charity Hospital School of Nursing, New Orleans, Louisiana A colleague and friend of Ms. Harris writes: I am so happy to have found your site. Ms. Harris has beome like a second mom to me. I too, am an RN in Emergency Care. This amazing woman in her mid 80s still reads voraciously and can rival me at times as to what is going on in modern healthcare. Her career spanned 6 decades as an Operating Room Head Nurse, Industrial Nurse, Nurse Consultant to the last Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) hospital in the U.S. She did this all while raising 4 children (one of whom is an RN), being a wife to her WWII vet hustand, and continues to live independently, drive, and maintain a home. We recently took her to a book signing at the WWII Museum in New Orleans where she was treated with much respect from the curent nursing students in attendance. She was so proud of her Cadet Nurse history. |
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Susan Bouyer Twilley Relative of a Cadet Nurse I am Alberta Jusaitis Bouyer's daugher, Susan Bouyer Twilley. My mother served her graduate service in Tacoma, Washington, at the Tacoma Indian Reservation. My mother has left me her train ticket stubs out and back from Washington State. I have pictures of her and fellow Jefferson nursing school nurse cadets in the Indian Service...in the operating rooms...Indian hospital itself. My mom, Albert Jusaitis, the name she would have served under, has been gone from us for around 30 years...we just settled my father's estate and found all of these train tickes, pictures, and letters of placement by the U.S. Army for her service in Tacoma, Washington. I would love to be able to learn more about my mom's experience and maybe connect with the families of other women who served with her. |
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Emogene Mertz Burns Cadet Nurse Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Des Moines, Iowa
So, without even discussing this with my mom and dad, I wrote to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines and said I was interested and wanted some information. Within a few days, I received an application and then I showed it to my mom. She got tears in her eyes because she really didn't want me to do this. She thought I'd always stay home. She was looking forward to my graduation so that I could be home and we could do things together. I was in a dilemma! Either take a stand and go ahead or drop the idea and hope for something else to come along. I decided to go ahead. All I had to do was get a routine physical, copy my school grades from the book in the school office, and get a letter of recommendation as to my character. My parish priest, Fr. Neppel at St. Benedict wrote the letter. I was accepted into the program and I began my studies on September 4, 1944. I chose Des Moines because of a group of girls from Algona had gone there, so I knew that I would see a few familiar faces, and I thought that Des Moines would be more exciting than the locations near by home. I graduated in May 1947. I was married a few months later and decided to raise a family. After my children were raised, I went back to nursing, working at the Bethany Nursing Home in Council Bluffs, Iowa. |
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Mary Elizabeth Arnold Brown Cadet Nurse
See other newspaper clippings at these links: Surgeon General lays cornerstone at new Cadet Nurse Building |
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Mary Mihalchik Bernardini Cadet Nurse Kings County, VA, Brooklyn, New York Mary's daughter reports: My mother, originally of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, entered the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943. She remembers her time as a student at Kings County VA in Brooklyn, New York, with great enthusiasm. She will be 91 this March, and her lifelong passion for nursing continues to this day. As her daughter, I am interested in knowing if donations from that era are still welcome. I have a nursing cape and her set of nursing books, both of which are in pristine condition. To contact me, please email me at peacelily@mchsi.com. Thank you for the time that you take to acknowledge our "Forgotten Angels." |
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Beatrice Strauss Cadet Nurse Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn, New York I graduated from nursing school in 1947, worked on hospital staff for a few years, and then did private duty for several more years. In 1958 one of the hospitals at which I worked in Brooklyn wanted to set up a Recovery Room. At that time the idea of a Recovery Room had not yet taken place in New York City, except at one Manhattan facility. I was asked to come on staff and work with the Anesthesia Department to establish this new unit. I served as the Supervisor for six years, and during that time I visited other hospitals in Brooklyn to advise them on setting up Recovery Rooms themselves. We also had regular groups of nursing students from New York City schools who spent about one week's time learning what this kind of unit was all about. In 1964, when our national nursing leadership organizations began to suggest that Registered Nurses should pursue a B.S. in Nursing, I decided that it sounded like a good professional idea. My family and professional friends thought I was foolish to waste my time doing this, with no job and no income, but I went ahead anyway. After I achieved that degree, I went on to graduate school and earned a 54-credit M.A. degree in Rehabilitation Nursing, which also included courses in Public Health. For many years thereafter I worked in Industrial Nursing and Public Health areas. In 1972 I went to work at a New York-based Senior Citizens Social Service agency. Our office was in Brooklyn, and I helped the agency set up similar programs, that is, Public Health Nursing, in Queens and The Bronx. The programs were very succesful and provded a good bit of health information to the clients served by the agency. Unfortunately, after more than six years the agency decided to discontinue these programs, since (they said!) they wanted to focus only on Social Service. That agency still exists, and they provide numerous services to Senior Citizens, including home-delivered meals, but they do not have any nurses on their staff. For the last 19 years of my career I worked with the New York Catholic Archdiocese at the New York Catholic Center in Manhattan. I served as the Nursing Supervisor of a very large Foster Child Care program, with over 1200 children in foster care throughout the city. In 1979 they had not yet put a name to the disease that had been infecting and killing so many people--HIV. We would get infants into care who had been born to drug-infected women who "had some kind of infection" and after about three months in care many of our babies would become seriously ill and die. We gave special classes to Foster Parents about health issues and guidelines on how this strange disease was known to be spread, but people in general were pretty frightened about the matter. Many times the Social Workers would stand across the room from the natural parents to speak with them during family visits. Our nursing staff worked very hard to provide the care and support that these children needed and their care-takers required. After some years, medications were being developed to deal with HIV, and our children were being treated with a variety of experimental medications. It was so gratifying to see that after a while some of our little babies were growing up to be toddlers! And after a while some of them were going into Kindergarten! During those early years of dealing with testing and diagnosing and then treating children with HIV, I developed some good documents to facilitate all of this, and I was a frequent telephone-consultant to the director of the city's Pediatric AIDS Unit. Needless to say, while the early years of this position were very stressful and the entire time very demanding, it was the highlight of my Nursing career and certainly most satisfying. I retired on December 31st, 1999. For the past 14 years I have been volunteering at Blood Donor Drives for the New York Blood Center. I handle the canteen tables, where the donors enjoy refreshments after donating, and I observe them for any untoward reactions, and I help to train new volunteers. When potential donors are deferred because of a low blood iron level, I give them advice about healthy eating. Also, when given the opportunity at the canteen tables, I encourage donors to consider donating platelets. That's because I have been a long time platelet donor and to date I have donated platelets 201 times. Many of these times were double donations, and a few were for specific persons for whom I was a good HLAmatch. I'm very proud of that personal record. And about 14 years ago I started to take flute lessons. It seemed like a good idea, and I enjoy my music. As soon as I found out what the flute keys were all about, I discovered that I could play anything I wanted to, never having played it before. It might not sound professional, but it's clearly what the musical piece is all about. I attribute that ability and talent to my last name and the fact that I must have inherited something from that late musical genius Johann Strauss (JUST KIDDING!!) So that's a lot of information about me and my Nursing career. Thanks to the availability of the Cadet Nurse program such a long time ago, it has been most rewarding. |
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Helen Zitzelberger Eckley Cadet Nurse Clearfield Hospital School of Nursing I had 3 years of diploma nursing under the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. I feel I would not have been able to bcome a nurse if it had not been for the US NURSE CORPS. We had every service related to patient care. I remained at the Clearfield Hospital for 40 years after graduating in 1947. During this time, i started as a charge nurse, continuing to be suupervisor, and the last 16 years as a diector of nursing. I also have a BS and MS in science. It has been great. |
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Martha Mary Zika Kehl Cadet Nurse Aultman School of Nursing, Canton, Ohio From childhood, Martha always knew she wanted to be a nurse. At the Aultman School of Nursing in Canton, Ohio, she joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps and served at the Wood Veterans Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1945. After her service at Wood Hospital, Martha returned to Canton to marry, to raise 5 children and to a long career in nursing. Mom is extremely proud of her service to her country in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. Contributed by Dave Kehl |
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Jeanne Wright Mackey Cadet Nurse Latrobe Hospital School of Nursing, Latrobe, Pennsylvania I began my training at Latrobe Hospital School of Nursing, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 1944. |
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Shirley M Woodruff Suskind Cadet Nurse Fairview Park Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio Student Nurse, Fairview Park Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, 1943-1946 |
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Betty Wilde Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother, Anita Marie Hoelscher Book was in the Cadet Nurse Corps. She trained at Providence Hospital in Waco, TX. The war ended and she never had to serve but she became a wonderful nurse working in San Angelo, TX. |
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Doris E. Wightman Cadet Nurse Bishop Johnson College of Nursing at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan, Los Angeles, California I received my nurse training at the Bishop Johnson College of Nursing at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan, Los Angeles, California, from 1944 to 1947. |
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Lydia Whitebeaver Bear Cadet Nurse Sage Memorial Hospital School of Nursing Lydia Whitebeaver is a member of the Winnebago Tribe Of Nebraska. She retired from a career in Indian Health Service serving as an Assistant Director of Nurses at the Winnebago IHSPHS Hospital. She remains proud to have been a part of the Native Cadet Nurse program. Her picture can be found among the photos at the University of Arizona medical library. |
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Mary Lynn Wauson Reid Relative of a Cadet Nurse I have a picture of my mother, Beryl E. Wauson in her uniform of the Cadet Nurse Corps, taken at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, where she was completing her RN. |
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Kathleen Watson Relative of a Cadet Nurse My family member, Virginia M Purdy, was a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. |
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Rose Mary Walker Cadet Nurse Hotel Dieu Nursing School, New Orleans, Louisiana In January 1943, Rose Mary Walker left New Iberia for New Orleans, where she began training to be a nurse at the Hotel Dieu nursing school, and in July that year, was admitted into the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. She was 18 years old. Although Walker never left New Orleans, she continued to serve as a Cadet Nurse until President Harry Truman dissolved the corps in 1948. Read more |
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Melissa Walden-Baker Relative of a Cadet Nurse
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Emma E. Wagner Cadet Nurse Grant Hospital School of Nursing, Columbus, Ohio Gerry Wagner and I did not serve in miltary, since the war ended in the middle of our education. We graduated and got RNs from the Grant Hospital School of Nursing, Columbus, Ohio. But we went where we were assigned |
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Nancy W. Habelt Cadet Nurse Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, D.C. In 1943 I was working for the Navy Department. I had always wanted to be a nurse, but couldn't afford the education then. I heard about the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps and jumpted at the chance to go to American University for nine months of classes. Then I went to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. for my nurses training and more college classes. All the hosptials in the U.S. needed nurses due to World War II. Wed did so much to help our country and the hospital staffing. We trained just like all the other branches of the service. We are all in our 80s now and would like to be recognized in some small way before we die. I would be happy with a Cadet Nurse Flag or a medal. I gave up a good paying job at the Navy Department to help my country during the war. |
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Dolores (Dolly) Vermeeren Kochheiser Cadet Nurse Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I gave a verbal taped report to an AARP person for the Library of Congress about civilians' WWII war effort. This was a veterans project -- I worked for 40 years & was a candidate for the pilot program for for Adult Health Nurse Practitioners at the University of Colorado School of Nursing --graduating 1973. A friend gave me a bookmark with the Cadet logo on it . On the back of it a name: Thelma(Morey)Robinson 1991 Alumni of the year -- Lincoln General Hospital School of Nursing Celebrating 45 years in nursing ----I could not find this name listed in either of your listings -- alive or dead. I thought this might be of interest. Editor's note: Dolores, Thelma is very much alive. She wrote 3 books on Cadet Nurse history. All are well researched and important work. Thelma is also a modest woman, but she also has a website.
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Eleanore Van Ormer Cadet Nurse Springfield Memorial School of Nursing, Springfield, Illinois Admitted to the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps: October 14, 1943 Graduated from Springfield Memorial School of Nursing, Springfield, Illinois. Work history includes:
I always enjoyed learning. With credits that I could transfer from the University of Illinois, Indiana, Scottsdale Community College and Extension Classes from Northern Arizona University, I graduated with a B.S. in Vocational Education from NAU. In 1985 the Vocational and Industrial Clubs of America held their U.S. Skills Olympics in Phoenix, Arizona, and I served as Technical National Chairman for the Nurse Assistant competition. My sister Caroline and I were older than most of the girls coming into the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. Most of them had just graduated High School in the spring. We knew we wanted to study so asked to room together. We have lots of funny stories. Here's one: We were given a room at the end of the hall on the second floor. Our "Dorm" was the old hospital that was just moved out. The fire escape on the outside of the building ended at one of our windows. We thought we heard comeone on the fire escape so Caroline walked over and looked out of the window. She did not say a word but calmly walked over to the door,stepped into the hall and yelled "HELP." Our House Mother lived on the first floor in a room at the opposite end of the building so heard nothing. All the girls living on our floor came running to see two upper class students crawling through the window. During World War II, student nurses were allowed to marry and on June 13, 1945 RM/1 H.E. Anthony and I were married, so I graduated as Eleanore Anthony. H.E. died in 1976. I worked until we adoped the first of our three sons, Ronald, Thomas and James, in 1960 and was a stay at home Mom until we moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1970. March 5, 1990, I retired as Nurse Manager of the VIP floor at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital, moved to Illinois, and married Thomas J. Clark. |
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Kristina Tynes Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother Virginia Olsen, was in the nurse cadet corps during WW2. I am a registered nurse myself and have a great interest in the history of nursing, especially as it relates to my Mother and her unacknowledged contribution. I would like to find the record of my mother's service if possible as there are so few details about her experience known to us. My mother is 89 years old and is a resident at Atria, Merrimac Place in Newburyport Mass. My mother has dementia and I am conducting this search on her behalf. |
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Rose Mary Tyndall Cadet Nurse Bellevue-New York University, New York City, New York I was a member of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps from 1944-1947. I became a staff, then research nurse, then a charge nurse, and then a public health nurse in New York City. When the Korean War came along, I joined the United States Army Nurse Corps. Remember that "Justice delayed is justice denied." |
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Dorothy J. Braun Turner Cadet Nurse
My Mother, Dorothy J. Braun (Turner) was the first cadet nurse trainee from Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, to be accepted by the Navy into US Naval Hospital, Seattle, Washington. She was 21 and finished her last 6 months of training in Seattle. While there, she met and subsequently married my Dad, Richard E. Turner, a Pharmacist Mate FC, who was heading off to finish medical school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They married in October of 1945. My parents settled in Eugene, Oregon, after his graduation from University of Michigan and residency in pediatrics. Dorothy maintained her nursing license and continued to work in the field until her retirement in 1989 from the University of Oregon's Student Health Center. She passed away on March 1, 2014, at the age of 90. |
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Mary Alice Thornton Rardin Cadet Nurse St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania October 1st, 1924 - January 19, 1995 My grandmother Mary Alice was a cadet nurse. She was very proud of her participation in the program. She was not only a fantastic nurse but a pillar of her community and remained dedicated to veterans till the day she passed away. Links: http://www.stfrancispittsburgh.com/alumni_1904_1951.html http://tuitionmissionfoundation.com/Mary_Alice_Rardin.html Carin Fullum would love to hear from those who knew her grandmother. Please contact her at fullumc@gmail.com. |
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Eleanor Teare Booth - Freebairn Cadet Nurse Providence Hospital, Washington, D.C. Captain Steven R. Oversby, U.S. Public Health Service retired, writes:
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Lucy Isabelle Tarvin Eisenmann Cadet Nurse Union Hospital School of Nursing, Terre Haute, Indiana I am proud of my nursing heritage and very interested in becoming active in the organization after being out of touch with other Cadet Nurses for several years. I now live in Denton, Texas, and will look forward to being contacted. |
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Peggy Tanner Hamann Cadet Nurse Grant Hospital School of Nursing, Columbus, Ohio I am 87 years old and would like more information on this group I was part of in 1945-1947. I retired from nursing 10 years ago. |
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Mary Eloise Syester Bathurst Cadet Nurse Michael Reese Hospital School of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois I attended Michael Reese Hospital School of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois, and was a member of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps-March 1944-1947. The last six months of school my service was at the United States Veterans Administration Hospital in Downey, Illinois. Following graduation I worked another year at the VA Hospital. Being a nurse had been my dream. I continued my nursing career and after retirement was a volunteer nurse at a clinic. |
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Viola Supeau Cadet Nurse I am a retired School Nurse-Teacher (27½ yrs) from the Mt Vernon Bd of Education. I then worked with the Community Opportunity Program as a nurse at Whitney Young Head Start Program and the St. Joseph's Children Center. I started volunteering long before I retired in 2000. I volunteer with the Visiting Nurses, doing blood pressure screening and counseling at our two senior centers in Harrison, N.Y. I also volunteer at the following places:
In 2005 I was inducted in Westchester County Senior Hall of Fame (special recognition) 2003 I received the "Book of Golden Deeds" by The Exchange Club I received a BSN from St. John's University in 1961. In 1964 I received an M.A. from New York University. I was inducted into the Kappa Delta Pi - International Honor Society of Education. |
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Charlotte E. Stryker Blaser Cadet Nurse Russell Sage College, Troy, New York Charlotte Blaser joined the first class of Cadet Nurses at Russell Sage College in Troy. Blaser said she knew she wanted to be a nurse before the attack on Pearl Harbor launched the United States into World Warr II. This desire turned into a patriotic duty when as many as 250,000 nurses were sent to the front lines to care for troops, leaving such a void on the homefront that hospitals in the United States were canceling immunizations and even closing down. Cadet Nurses were anything but coddled. They worked six days a week, taking classes during the day and putting their knowledge to the test, working weekend and evening shifts at hospitals. Blaser said the physical and mental stress was too demanding for some women, and not everyone made it through the whole program. Read more |
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Rita Stormes Cadet Nurse St. Vincent's Hospital School of Nursing, New York City, New York In 1944, Englewood, N.J., native Rita Stormes was working as a bookkeeper for a life insurance company in New York City. Moved to contribute to the World War II effort, she joined the Cadet Nurse Corps that September and was assigned to St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan until 1947. She worked in every department of care, making sure the medical industry was fully staffed while many nurses were stationed overseas. Read more |
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Millicent Schuman Stein Cadet Nurse My nursing school education was enabled by the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, for which I am grateful. My expectation was to join the Army or Air Corps after graduation, which occurred in February 1947. Fortunately for everyone, the war was ended in 1945. One of my most treasured possessions is the recruitment poster of that era. Thank you for your work in obtaining recognition/benefits for members of the Corps.I am interested in progress to include our group as veterans. |
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Doris Spengler Wolfe Cadet Nurse Allentown General Hospital, Allentown, Pennsylvania I joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps in Feb.1944 at Allentown General Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and finished my training there in 1947. Then I was appointed Head Nurse of the male Surgical floor—also became a licensed X-ray Technician. I spent my last 17 years running the X-Ray Dept in a State Mental Institution—under a Radiologist—and retired in 1987. |
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Lillian M. Sorensen Sizemore Cadet Nurse Trinity Lutheran Nursing School, Minot, North Dakota My mother Lillian M. 'Sorensen' Sizemore was a cadet nurse graduating 1946 from Trinity Lutheran Nursing School in Minot, ND. Su Boliou |
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Bonnie June Smith Hewitt Cadet Nurse Minnequa School Of Nursing, Corwin Hospital, Pueblo, Colorado I entered The Cadet Nurse Program March 17 1944 after graduating from High School at Farley New Mexico at age 17. I enrolled in the Minnequa School Of Nursing, Corwin Hospital in Pueblo, Colorado, affiliated in Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado. I spent the last 6 months in Boise, Idaho, at The Veterans Memorial Hospital. I graduated in March 1947. Married and raised 3 sons. I did not work until 1962. Worked in surgery at Sacred Heart Hospital, Eugene, Oregon, and until 1974 and then in a Urology Office in Eugene, Oregon until I retired in 1992. Nursing was my life, and I thank The Cadet Nursing Program for a wonderful education. It was a great program. I am now 87 years of age, enjoying retirement at my home in Eugene,Oregon, and staying pretty active. No one seems to know we ever existed, and I would very much like to be recognized. I also would like to contact some of my old classmates. There aren't many of us left and like the service men in WW2 we are falling fast. |
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Mildred Smith Conaty Cadet Nurse Hartford Hospital School of Nursing, Hartford, Connecticut I joined the Cadet Nurse Corps at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, in June 1945 and serviced until June 1948. Iwas sent to McCook Hospital for Communicable Diseases in Harford, Connecticut, where I served the last six months of my Cadet Corps time. After graduating I continued in nursing, serving several different hospitals in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Virginia until I retired from nursing in 1991 from Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia. I am 89 years old and enjoying my retirement. I support the U.S. Senate Bill S. 2507 U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act. |
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Jessie Dye Skillen Cadet Nurse St. Elizabeth's Hospital School of Nursing, Hutchinson, Kansas Post by Jessie Skillen.
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Velma Vasti Simmons Carter Cadet Nurse Mississippi Baptist Hospital School of Nursing, Jackson, Mississippi Velma Vasti Simmons Carter was a Cadet Nurse. |
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Georgia Anne Scott Poplar Cadet Nurse St. Vincent's Hospital School of Nursing, Toledo, Ohio BSN: Mary Manse College, Toledo, Ohio I signed up in the Cadet Nurse Sorps on June 21, 1943. After I graduated from nurse's training, I married a gentleman who was in the submarines ten years, both regular Navy and reserves. During our marriage I worked as a staff nurse in hospitals close to his bases. Whe we started our family, we located in Toledo, Ohio, while working full time I obtained my MSN. I was moved up the administration ladder every couple of years while obtaining my degrees. I ended up as a director of nurses and assistant hospital administrator with 15 years of service in a small hospital. In 1972 I was appointed assistant administrator and director of nurses in a larger hospital. This hospital also had 144 apartments for the elderly and a 299 unit long term care facility. When the government decided to license long term care, my administration requested I go for long term care licensure, which I did. I also became a fellow in the American College of Health Care Administration after 18 years at this facility. I retired at age 67 in 1991. I am now living in a retirement facility which covers apartments to hospice care. Many of my classmates have passed away, but as I come in contact with former nurses, I make them aware of uscadetnurse.org and your activities. |
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Mary Elizabeth Sciarrone Sorlete Cadet Nurse Women's Homeopathic Hospital School of Nursing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Story to be posted. |
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Anita Mae Schurko Cadet Nurse As a member of the Corps working in a hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Anna Mae Schurko remembers performing every task of a nurse from bathing and treatments to obstetrics and pediatrics. She worked 12-hour shifts and went to class at night. “Because of the Corps, nurse education improved, standards were higher and our country’s hospitals stayed intact,” she said. Dubbed the “Forgotten Angels,” members of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps never received benefits for their service during World War II. However, many took their state board exams and became registered nurses after the war. Schurko was a nurse for 50 years. Read more |
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Steven Fritzler Relative of a Cadet Nurse Steven Fritzler is Emalyn Schmidt's son. Emalyn was a Cadet Nurse. |
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Charlotte Savage Bourne Cadet Nurse Salem Hospital School of Nursing, Massachusetts I am a 1945 graduate of Salem Hospital School of Nursing in Massachusetts. I was a U.S. Cadet Nurse during nurse's training and am very proud that I wore the uniform of a cadet nurse. |
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Agnes Satran Cook Cadet Nurse Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing, Grand Forks, North Dakota I was in the Nurse Cadet program. I entered in July 1945 and got my three years in when the War was over in August 1945. I was a Cadet Nurse in Grand Forks, North Dakota—Deaconess Hospital. I was in nursing for 43 years. |
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Eleanor Sargeant Cadet Nurse Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, Maine Before she dies, Eleanor Sargent wants to see herself and tens of thousands of other women who served in the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II be recognized as veterans. Sargent said she doesn't want compensation or benefits — she just wants her group to be recognized for the history books. "Already people don't know who the cadet nurses are," she said. "We don't want to be forgotten." Sargent served from 1943-46 at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. She said the experience was invaluable, as she went on to work a variety of jobs in the nursing field. She traveled across the country as an anesthesiologist, working in Georgia, California, and Alaska, among other places. She also worked in El Salvador with the Feed the Children missionary medical team. At 84, Sargent is one of the youngest living women to have served in the nurse corps. Others are 100 and older — which is why Sargent wishes lawmakers would fast-track one of the bills that would grant them veteran status."There aren't too many of us left," she said. Read more |
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Rita Salvo Cadet Nurse Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, New York I was a student nurse in Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, N.Y. during the war and a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. Our only obligation was to stay in essential nursing for the remainder of World War II. During my last six months of training, a group of us was allowed to spend it at the V.A. hospital in the Kingsbridge area of the Bronx, right on the Hudson River. We took care of the veterans who were wounded in the war -- paraplegics, amputees, T.B. of the bone, and all kinds of injuries. I met Gus, my husband, through on eof my roommates, and we were married in 1949. He is now 95 years old and still active. He had spent three years on a destroyer in the Pacific (U.S.S. Bagley 386). The ship received 12 battle stars for all the engagements in the Pacific, including the attack on Pearl Harbor. Gus has 11 battle stars as he joined the ship after Pearl Harbor. The Bagley was in the harbor at the battle of Iwo Jima and Gus saw (through binoculars) the raising of the flag on Mt. Suribachi.We moved from Yonkers, N.Y. to Ahwatukee, which is a retirement complex in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1979. We have enjoyed our lifestyle here and have adapted to the hot summer temperatures. Our son and his family (three grandkids and wife, Sue) still live in Westchester County, N.Y. and come to visit as often as they can. |
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Elizabeth Jean Rushing Milligan Cadet Nurse Methodist Hospital of Dallas School of Nursing, Texas I trained at the Methodist Hospital of Dallas School of Nursing and completed my training in the last U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps class. Our commencement exercises were the last of this program. Surgeon General Thomas Parran wrote to us in his farewell message: A memorable chapter of the Nation's wartime history will close when the final Cadet Nurse class graduates in 1948. Although this nurse training program is ending, the 125,000 nurses educated under its aegis will exert a great influence for a long time to come. Your trained skills will add to our national story of health and happiness. As members of the nursing profession, you will carry considerable prestige in your communities. Because of this capacity for service and your position in community life, you, as a nurse, also will have a heavier share of responsibility than the average citizen. I am confident that you will discharge this responsibility with distinction. In sending this farewell message, I should like to express to Cadet Nurses everywhere my appreciation and that of the Public Health Service for the contributions you already have made to humanity and to your country. I add my hope that the rewarded career you have chosen will continue to be a lasting source of satisfaction. Commencement Exercise of Last U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Class (3.77 MB) U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps March, commissioned especially for the last U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps class (6.56 MB) |
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Lois Ross Cadet Nurse French Hospital School of Nursing, San Francisco, California
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Amy J Ritscher Pfeiffer Springfield Memorial School of Nursing, Springfield, Illinois Worked
Since I was going into training late (October 1943) due to hospital moving to a new facility, the old hospital was used as a nurses' home. I worked after graduating from high school at a government ammunition plant located near a small town (Illiopolis, Illinois), which was close to Springfield, Illinois. I worked there for 4 months. I was very fortunate the Cadet Program began as this was my lifelong dream of being a nurse. My father had a heart attack several years before and thought my chance of being a nurse was not going to happen! |
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Edith Rifkin Frankel Cadet Nurse Beth Israel Hospital School of Nursing, New York City, New York After school I went into school health where I worked my entire career. I became a School Nurse Practitioner, graduating from Northeastern University in 1976. I retired as a school nurse teacher around 1990. I now live in Avon, CT. |
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Eva Darlene Ridings Cadet Nurse Jean Kull writes: My mother was Eva Darlene Ridings, Croxton, Snyder, Christian. She was a Nurse Cadet and several of you know her from Camden, Illinois. She is currently in an Alzheimer's Care Facility in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I am her youngest daughter. All of you living and those who have passed NEED to be recognized for your contributions to this country during WWII. Not many of you are still living but we are your children and your voices. |
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Grace Rayl Lett Cadet Nurse Yale University At age 93 I am still active, taking care of myself. The Cadet Nurse Corps gave me the wonderful education that has been valuable all my life. Unfortunately, the war was over before I graduated so I did not get to care for the soldiers as I had hoped to do. |
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Lisa Peterman Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother Ruby Irene Winchell Peterman was US Cadet Nurse. |
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Vera Peltz Amyotte Cadet Nurse Bethesda Hospital School of Nursing, St. Paul, Minnesota Vera Peltz Amyotte always wanted to be a nurse, but she didn't know when she entered Bethesda Hospital School of Nursing in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1942 that her nursing career would lead to a stint in the nearly 180,000-strong U.S Cadet Nurse Corps... |
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Sara Jane Overstreet Relative of a Cadet Nurse Loreen Phillips moved to Atlanta, Georgia, from Arkansas during WWII for the Cadet Nurse Corps program at Georgia Baptist Hospital. A decade later she married, earned a Master's from Emory Univ c1963, then earned a Doctorate in 1978 from the University of South Carolina. She retired as Professor Emeritus from the University System of Georgia. I have her service number in one of her textbooks. When I wrote to the Army for her records, they said Mother's had burned along with many others in St. Louis. Too bad! I have tried to learn about the Cadet Nurse Corps from general purpose reading. Loreen Phillips Overstreet, EdD died in 2008. I never knew my mother to shy away from helping any form of medical need. Mother was the best nurse I ever saw and could save a life with her hands, her wit, and that "I'm In Charge" attitude. I would like to hear from anyone who knew her during her time in the U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps. |
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Adrianne Orgettas Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother, Winnifred (Tyndall) Gies is a Cadet Nurse, Graduate 1947 / Wellesley Hospital, Wellesley, MA. Please send email to me at Anneco73@aol.com, and I will forward correspondence to her. |
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Mary Ann Olson Anderson Cadet Nurse St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing, Duluth, Minnesota I was a Cadet Nurse in Duluth Minnesota, from 1944-1947 at St. Luke's Hospital. |
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Florence Ruth Nudelman Kornblatt Cadet Nurse Hahnemann Hospital School of Nursing, Scranton, Pennsylvania
I enlisted in the nurse cadet corps as soon as the program was initiated. The educational benefit made it possible for me to continue my education with certainty that the necessary financial resources were in place. Our class was the first in our area to take our pre-clinical training on a college campus. I will never forget the pride and joy I felt when I put on my uniform and realized I was officially a part of the war effort. I was serving to protect and care for my country and those who had been wounded in our defense. I was prepared to go whenever and wherever I was needed for as long as I was needed. In the winter of 1946, the last 6 months of my training were spent on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, ND. I worked with the Chippewa Indians. Two other students in my class were assigned to veterans’ hospitals closer to home. I was a small town girl who had never traveled alone; certainly not on a solo trip cross-country by train. When I arrived, it was 20 degrees below zero. I remember the ambulance that picked me up was an old station wagon. There were two physicians on staff and they rotated admissions. Nurse cadets from other parts of the United States were arriving daily. During my time of service, one of the physicians became ill and we all assumed more responsibility until another physician could be assigned. We did whatever was necessary to maintain patient care with no lapse in service. After graduation in 1946, I married and continued to work to supplement our family’s income. In 1962, my husband passed away and I had to support and educate my two children. My nursing profession became a lifeline for my children and me. I continued to use my skills after retirement, volunteering with hospice as an ombudsman, a trainer, and a lecturer. I am now 87 years old. It pains me to know that my service and those of my fellow cadets has never been acknowledged. I don’t know how many of us are still alive, but I feel we deserve this recognition. |
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Persida Novakovich Drakulich, Ph.D., R.N. Cadet Nurse St. Mark's Hospital, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada I was very proud to wear the uniform of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps while training at St. Mark's Hospital, affiliated with the University of Utah and founded by Bolton Act and administered by the U.S. Public Health Service. WWII ended and my naval officer husband and I moved to San Diego, CA, while he was staioned at the U.S. Naval Hospital. My nursing career in public health was payback time to our U.S. Public Health Service. My Bio
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Rand Noel Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother Neola L Noell entered the World War II Cadet Nurse Corps; attending Bishop Johnson College of Nursing 1944. |
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Vera Nickels Cadet Nurse Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing, Spokane, Washington Vera graduated in 1944 from the Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in Spokane, Washington. Vera's graduation was held at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Vera then worked at the Seattle Marine Hospital in surgery. |
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Genevieve K. Ness Hitchcock Cadet Nurse St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing, Duluth, Minnesota I entered Nurse's Training in March of 1945 at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, MN and graduated in March of 1948. I became a surgical nurse in Grand Rapids, MN before I married.I have also worked in California and Texas in various areas of nursing-retiring in 1978. |
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Mary Nell Davis Cadet Nurse Alachua General Hospital, Gainesville, Florida My mother, Mary Nell Davis was a Cadet Nurse in Gainesville, Florida at Alachua General Hospital. She enlisted Sept. 3rd, 1945. I am interested in finding out more about this group. by Mary Nell Davis' son, John Wells, jltwells@bellsouth.net |
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Susan P. Muller, R.N. Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother was a Cadet Nurse: Salem Training School for Nurses, Salem, Massachusetts. Her name during that time was Florence Hilda Johnson. Her married name was F. |
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Hilda E. Motz Franklin Cadet Nurse Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, Pennsylvania
I was in the last class to graduate in 1948. My daughter-in-law is helping to find more information to add. I am now 87 years old. I worked as a nurse till I was 77 years when my grandson was KIA in Ramaki, Iraq. It was then I retired. I worked in Coudersport, PA for about 25 years in the Maternity Ward. |
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Rosemary Minsky Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother Marie Moore (maiden name) age 88 yrs joined the Cadet Nurse Corps while in training at Charles Wilson Hospital Johnson City New York. She contacted the hospital but they had no information. Is there anywhere a list of those who in the Corps with her at this hospital? |
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Agnes Michon Viada Cadet Nurse
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Escolastica Mercado Cadet Nurse Hospital Santo Asilo de Damas, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Santo Asilo de Damas was one of seven nursing schools in Puerto Rico that participated in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. |
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Sue McKelvey Ragsdale Cadet Nurse Georgia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing, Atlanta, Georgia I would like to see bill passed for recognition of us as veterans . I joined the cadet corp in 1943 as a student nurse at Georgia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta, Georgia. I graduated & became an R.N. in 1946. I married, had 3 children, finally taught pratical nursing in a Marietta, Georgia, techinal school and retired in 1988. I am retired and live in Marietta, Georgia, now am 89 yrs. old, have a little pet rescue Terrior/corgi named Carson. several great Grandchildren, 2 daughters. |
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Patricia McCutchan Bergh Cadet Nurse University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota While at school at the University of Minnesota, I worked at Miller in St. Paul, Minneapolis General, and at the Glen Lake Sanatorium (during my honeymoon!). I met my future husband Kit Bergh in a psychology class and again later when caring for his father at University Hospital. We became well acquainted, soon to fall in love and marry. In my class of 500 I was one of the 100 who graduated. I practiced in Minnesota and Florida after graduation working in hospitals as well as occasional private duty nursing. I worked at the hospital in Stillwater MN well into the 1970's. I certainly much preferred nursing to office work. Many years after Kit's death, I met a former classmate from my high school days in Bloomington MN. Ray Savela had gone away to Alaska with his family before graduating. We spent many years together, traveling to Finland, Norway and Denmark as well as summering for many years just outside of Fairbanks, AK. He passed away last October. I've lost touch with most of my classmates from the corps. Some have died but surely some of us are still here. |
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Arlene Mayer Specht Cadet Nurse Charles S. Wilson Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, Johnson City, New York Arlene Mayer Specht recalled how Uncle Sam came along with some valued financial assistance during World War II when she was wondering how she was going to pay for her nursing education. Joining the United States Cadet Nurse Corps gave her the ability to pay the bills at Charles S. Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City, N.Y. She graduated from nursing school in 1946, and came back to Central New York to work at Oneida City Hospital, located at the time in downtown Oneida. Except for a short detour to work on Long Island for nine months when she first got married, she spent the next decade working for the Oneida facility.
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April Matthias, Ph.D. Researcher I am completing research on the 1946 graduates of the Cadet Nurse Corps BSN program at the University of Cincinnati. Please contact me if you have any information about this graduating class or if you too graduated from any other BSN program through the Cadet Nurse Corps. Thank you! |
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Cheryl Mather Beachler Cadet Nurse Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Iowa Interested in activities of group am just an active old women, who worked and raised a family and retired in 1986. |
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K. Mardell Urich Cadet Nurse Springfield Memorial School of Nursing, Springfield, Illinois Our training as a Nurse Cadet was a bit different. Memorial Hospital built a new hospital, and we were housed in the old hospital -- we slept in the old hospital beds and had antiquated dressers and little furniture as such. They transported us to the new hospital in a small bus, or we walked 9 or 10 blocks for classes or work. Our clinical training started very early in training, and one worked all shifts and had to be in class each day. My last 6 months of training was spent in pediatrics at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, which prepared me for caring for our six children later on. Upon graduating, I worked at a small hospital in Pekin, Illinois, on the 11-7 shift. After marriage I worked private duty, making $12 for 8 hours (and thought I was well paid at the time). I am so indebted to Uncle Sam for furnishinng me with such great nurse's training -- free, and even receiving $20 per month. I am proud to have been a part of the Nurse Cadet program and in so doing, contributed to that great war effort. |
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William K. March Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother, Marie (Creamer) March was a U.S. Cadet Nurse during the 40s. I am interested in following your website. |
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Margaret LoPresto Andrews Cadet Nurse St. Joseph's Hospital School of Nursing, San Francisco, California
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Mildred Shirley Liesman-Phillips Cadet Nurse Brackenridge School of Nursing, Austin, Texas I attended Brackenridge School of Nursing as a U S Cadet Nurse in Austin, Texas from 1943 to 1946. I graduated in a class of 31 nurses. After graduation I went to Kansas City for polio nursing. Returned home, married and continued my nursing career till 1984 when I retired. |
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Ashley Lesniewski Relative of a Cadet Nurse This is my Grandmother Rubye Tennessee Tyree Edwards. She is 87. I'm so proud of her. She's the reason I'm a nurse. :-) |
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Cheryl Lentz Relative of a Cadet Nurse Annie's daughter Cheryl Lentz writes: My Mom recently passed away and we have found her US Cadet Nursing badge. She went to nursing school in Vicksburg, MS. Her name was Annie Mardell Tindell. She met and married my Dad, Warren J. Osborn shortly after graduating from nursing school. She then moved to Wisconsin and worked in a number of hospitals up here. |
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Jeanne Butler Booher Cadet Nurse
Marie (Booher) Lee writes:
My mother was proud of her nursing career and her years in service to the Cadet Nurse Corps and her country. She talked openly and often about the challenging times, the duties thrust upon herself and her fellow Cadets and the determination and dedication it took to live up to the Cadet Nurse Corps Pledge. Mother only asked for recognition of a job well done! She died in April of 2011. I only wish she could have died with military honors! One of the proudest moments in my life was when I was able to help my mother host a luncheon in Omaha, NE for members of her Cadet class. The Cadets enjoyed a display of memorabilia from their Cadet days a wonderful lunch and music from the good old days. They spent hours remembering their experiences and the sisterhood and life long friendships they had gained from the Cadet Nurse Corps. It was truly a wonderful day being able to honor these ladies. In my opinion the best way to honor and recognize their service starts with each of us who is somehow related to or knows a Cadet. Ask them to tell you their story. Listen while they are still here to tell their story. Be grateful for their service. I am truly grateful to have known Jean as a mother and a Cadet!
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Jeanne Leaf Capalbo Cadet Nurse Cumberland Hospital School of Nursing Story TBD |
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Joanne M. Foster Laufer Cadet Nurse New York Hospital, Cornell University, New York City Susan Laufer writes: My mother, Joanne M. Laufer nee Foster was a Cadet Nurse at New York Hospital, Cornell University in New York City from 1944-1947. She completed a year at Magill Univ in Montreal before enlisting and moving to NYC at the age of 18. Being from Canada, everyone she knew at that time had enlisted or was involved in the war effort, since Canada was at war long before the US. Her father was from NYC and she had family in New York. Her experiences as a Cadet Nurse changed her life forever with lifelong friends and cherished memories. At 86 she is still going strong and still lives in the New York area. Congresswoman Lowey is her representative in Washington who thankfully once again sponsored legislation this year to obtain veteran status & recognition for the Corps. |
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Kitty Larkin Carbone Cadet Nurse Lawrence Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, Massachusetts Only 17 when graduating from Malden High School, Kitty entered the Cadet Nurse Program at Lawrence Memorial Hospital for her accelerated training. "There were no aides, no LPN," she recalls. "We did it all. We cared for the whole patient" but she found it to be good teaching and good discipline that benefitted her career as a nurse. It was a challenge, balancing the hours of accelerated instruction in the classroom with long shifts with large numbers of patients to care for in the hospital but the driving force remained the rush to get certified and thus increase the labor pool of nurses. The need was just as critical immediately following the end of hostilities with enrollments at peak levels in civilian, military, and veterans hospitals. Following graduation, she worked in Pediatrics at the Boston Floating Hospital. Kitty joined the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps following the war and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the Reserves, but her unit was never activated. Most of her working life was spent at the New England Medical Center, most of that time on the front lines in the emergency room. Later service would be in area nursing homes which were also closer to home. Many years had passed since that young girl sought the realization of her dreams through the Cadet Nurse Corps and she can look back on a long career of dedicated service that took root in an effort to help America win the war. -adapted from The Foxboro Report, Thursday, November 12, 2009, p. 5 |
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Diane Langley Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother died in November of 2012 at the age of 86. She was a graduate of Sacred Heart Hospital School of Nursing in Manchester, N.H., and became a Cadet Nurse in 1945. Her involvement as a Cadet Nurse was the beginning of a life long committment to veterans of all ages, their families and peace and justice issues. My mother served in NYC as a Cadet Nurse during 1945 and would have enjoyed military recognition of her service. |
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Leona Langhorne Humphreys Cadet Nurse Creedmore State Hospital, New York Lenora Langhorne Humphreys trained at Creedmore State Hospital, February 1945 - February 1948. She was born in Saint Albans, Queens, New York, and hoped to be called to join the Army. She worked for 10 years after graduation. She currently runs classes at the center whe lives (Exercise and Calligraphy) and is in a group called the Sewing "Bs." |
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Laura Kovalik Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother Wilda Marie Billingsley was in the U.S. Cadet Nurse program at Martin's Ferry Hospital, Martin's Ferry, Ohio. |
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Elayne Kornblatt Phillips Relative of a Cadet Nurse Florence Ruth (Nudelman) Kornblatt, my mother, was a U.S. Cadet Nurse. Now, at age 87, she could benefit from veteran status. She has some wonderful stories to tell about her service. She can be reached at flojoe113@yahoo.com |
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Lucille Muriel Knutson Barnett Cadet Nurse University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota I was in the Cadet Nurse Corps at the University of Minnesota from June 1945 to June 1948. I had signed up for the Marine Corps but the war was over before I graduated. I was sent to the Knoxville, Iowa Veterans Hospital where I served the last 6 months of my Cadet Corp time. After my graduation I continued working at the Veterans hospital. I had four brothers who served during the war years on active duty. I support H. R. 1718 Cadet Nurses Corp Act. |
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Josephine Joy Kinter Scott Cadet Nurse Bethesda Hospital School of Nursing, St. Paul, Minnesota Patty Davis records this oral history interview with Joy Scott:
My mother’s vision had me working on our McIntire Iowa farm in Mitchell County; I had dreams of getting away and making a new life for myself. After high school my sister and I were hired to work in a burger place in Osage, Iowa, where our cousins lived. We were there when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
There followed a short time back home, but I joined our St. Paul cousins after their visit to our farm. I returned with them to Minneapolis/St. Paul and boarded at their home while working first at Montgomery Wards and then as a file clerk at U.S. Steel Supply. When my cousin heard about the Nurse Cadet Corps I pursued the Bethesda Hospital program along with her. At my first interview I was told the program was full, but I bugged them repeatedly and then got accepted in 1944 when I was 20 years old. I attended the 3-year program and graduated in 1947.
My affiliations during training included psychiatry at St. Cloud Veterans Administration Hospital and pediatrics at St. Paul Pediatrics Hospital, and much of my time was at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul. My friend, Mabel Swanson (Mibs for short), was my roommate much of the time. We spent our last six months at the Des Moines Veterans Hospital.
There were 35 women in our class, and in St. Paul we lived in large houses near the hospital. I lived in Corner House and took classes and had assigned hours at Bethesda Hospital. We had a tall, sweet instructor, Miss Ackerman. Our time included rotations in OR, delivery, nursery and Central Supply. We wore black shoes and stockings the first year and then got to wear whites. War years altered the end-of-first-year tradition. Our class walked to the bridge to throw our black stockings into the river, but during wartime it was considered unpatriotic to keep to tradition and throw in the black shoes too.
At the start our uniform was a dress and apron, and after several months we got a bib; later our caps were added, and finally we received our pins. Uniforms, books, housing, and food were provided and we began with a $5 per month stipend. This increased over the years, and we received $60 monthly during our final six months. This allowed me to receive nursing education when I could not afford it. The hospitals also benefitted from the program because there was a nursing shortage during the war and we did a lot of work and we were cheap labor for them.
Many memories remain from this time. During my psychiatry affiliation I learned I was not supposed to play tennis with a patient - by getting in trouble for doing it. We had bible study every morning and went to Lutheran church on Sundays because Bethesda was a Lutheran hospital. We walked through the state capital on our way into downtown in winter just to get warm. During the winter when there was a freeze up north, a hospital director bought turkeys that had frozen and we ate “turkey this” and “turkey that” forever.
We had little sisters and big sisters from the other nursing classes. In 2013 my nursing school little sister, Louann Atkins, came to my 90th birthday party after our not seeing each other for over 60 years.
During the final six months of training Mibs, Shirley Peterson, Dori Erickson, and I were in Des Moines working at the VA. After graduation we studied for boards which we took in the Twin Cities. Passing boards was such a relief, and I recall how difficult they were. When results arrived in the mail, it was clear right away if you passed; my name had “RN” after it, and that was the sign!
We continue to get yearly newsletters from Bethesda Hospital, and I have kept up with several classmates over the years. I met with other class members for our 50th reunion in 1998, and I am now 91 years old and live in Santa Rosa, California.
My fantastic nursing career went on for decades and included work in Iowa and California. I retired at age 72 after working 27 years in Sonora, California, as a floor nurse, supervisor, and LVN instructor at Tuolumne County General Hospital and briefly at two other hospitals. Each morning I parked in the lot there and thought “I’m not sure what’s going to happen the whole rest of the day” - and I liked it that way! Nursing was one of the great joys of my life, and my nursing work and accomplishments enriched my life, made me proud, and brought me years of wonderful experiences.
Joy Scott (Josephine Joy Kinter)
May, 2015
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Helen Sophie Koziol Kimsey Cadet Nurse Martha Kimsey Bennett writes: My mother, Helen Sophie Koziol (Kimsey) was a U.S. Cadet Nurse. She joined a small team of nurses and was assigned to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation (apprx. 1944), and later entered regular military service about the USAT Edmund B. Alexander transport ship. |
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Kathleen Kennedy Cadet Nurse Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts Kathleen Ann (Kit) Kennedy, was a member of the Cadet Nurse Corps at Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA. She had graduated from Medford High School, (Medford, MA) in June of 1944. During that summer she was at home caring for her ailing mother when she heard a broadcast on the radio in which the nation's first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt sought volunteers to join the Cadet Nurse Corps, an organization established to encourage young girls to enter the nursing profession to take the place of those who were serving in the armed forces during World War II. At that time, hospitals across the United States were coping with a severe shortage of trained nurses due to the war. Many nurses had joined the services and were deployed to hospitals all over the world. The Cadet Nurse Corps was administered by the United States Public Health Service from 1943 through 1948 and was intended to replenish the supply of nurses on the home front by offering training at no expense to the trainees in return for a commitment to serve in essential nursing after graduation for the duration of the war. After hearing that broadcast by Mrs Roosevelt, Kit Kennedy signed up for the program and entered training at Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA in September, 1944. Initially, the trainees were paid a stipend of $10 per month. "It was just about enough for carfare to the hospital each day," she said. The stipend increased to as much as $30 per month as the trainees progressed through the program. Kit Kennedy completed her training in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. Because the war had ended, she was not required to enter the armed forces and instead went to work at Boston City Hospital in the Pediatrics Ward. She married Joseph G. Flynn, a Navy veteran of World War II and a Boston Firefighter, in 1950. They moved to Lexington, MA and raised five children. They were married for 55 years prior to his death in 2005. Kit left nursing for a time while raising her children, but returned to the profession in the 1960's working as an emergency room nurse at Sancta Maria Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for many years before joining the Raytheon Corporation as an Occupational Health nurse at their corporate headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. Now 90 years old, she is retired and resides in the Boston area. |
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Joan Joubert Relative of a Cadet Nurse, Friend of a Cadet Nurse My cousin Eleanor Sargent and my friend Betty Rose Hayden Callahan were part of the cadet program. It worries me that such a significant portion of nursing history may soon be lost to the ages. I will submit photos soon. I am in the process of gathering up data.
Betty Rose Hayden Callahan
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Doris Jensen Djernes Cadet Nurse St. Francis School of Nursing, Grand Island, Nebraska I graduated on January 6 1947 I worked in Surgery at Grand Island Lutheran Hospital in Grand Island, Nebraska. There are not too many of my class that I know of still living. There is one in Giltner, Nebraska. I worked until 1992 when I retired. I went back to work when there was such a shortage in 1966. Before that I mostly did special duty (I was busy raising my 3 children) as there were no intensive care units at that time. I am 88 years old and keep very active. I do water aerobics weekly. Our school of nursing is no longer; however, St. Francis Hospital in Grand Island, Nebraska, is still there. |
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Betty Jefferson Truax Cadet Nurse Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing, Boston, Massachusetts Growing up in Westwood, the nurse we would come to know as Betty Truax was a child of the Depression. Born in 1927, she was a freshman in high school before her father ever held a full-time job. "My parents did not have the money for me to go to college," she recalls, and there was little talk of anything other than getting a job when she graduated from high school in 1944. If she had the opportunity to pursue a career, it would have been nursing. Her life took a dramatic change for the better when, faced with a critical shortage of nurses throughout civilian and military hospitals, the U.S. Government initiated the Victory Nurse Corps, later renamed the Cadet Nurse Corps. For those willing to accept the demands of an accelerated training program while working the wards of the teaching hospital, the Victory Nurse Corps offered a monthly stipend of $15 that would increase to $20 per month after the first year and $25 thereafter. She entered nurses training at Mass Memorial Hospitals, now part of New England Medical. "The hospital provided our white uniforms to wear while on duty," she recalls, "and the Cadet Nurse Corps provided our brown dress uniforms." They would be the youngest of uniformed participants in the war effort. Her devotion to nursing continued throughout her working life, working for several years in the office of Dr. Robert Hayward before joining the local school system. She spent 10 years as a school nurse at the elementary level and another 10 with junior high students. "Oh, how Iloved those students," she said. Betty looks back fondly on the opportunities afforded her through the Cadet Nurse Corps to not only make a direct contribution to the war effort but to fulfill a dream she never thought would be realized, that of becoming a nurse. -excerpt from Jack Authelet, The Foxboro Reporter, Thursday, November 19, 2009 |
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Nonnie Hunter Anderson Cadet Nurse St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, Parkersburg, West Virginia Nonnie's daughter writes: I am the daughter of a U.S. Cadet Nurse. I am hoping to find some remaining nurses from the St. Joseph School of Nursing in Parkersburg, WV to be in contact with my mother who is 87. She worked in Public Health, New Martinsville, WV and then 37 years in Occupational Health at Olin/Conalco, Hannibal , Ohio. |
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Shevaun Horan Beck Cadet Nurse Santa Rosa School of Nursing, San Antonio, Texas I attended Santa Rosa School of Nursing from 1944-1947. Although this was a diploma school it was part of Incarnate Word College (now known as The University of the Incarnate Word). Because of the Associate Degree in Science that I earned from San Antonio Junior College, I was placed in a very small group of other students who had college credits. We attended special classes as well as regular classes with the other students. In 1944, 120 students were admitted to the USCNC and in 1947 80 of us graduated. Three of us received a BSN from Incarnate Word College as well as a diploma from Santa Rosa School of Nursing. In 1972, I was awarded a MS in Education from A&I university-Kingsville and in 1987 a PhD in Nursing from University of Texas-Austin. I taught nursing for 35 years and retired in 1995 from Texas A&M-Corpus Christ. I hope the billl passes. |
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Jean Holbrook Pratt Cadet Nurse Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital, Buffalo, New York For the last 6 mos of my 3-year R.N. training I served as Cadet Nurse at England General Army Hospital, a de-embarkation center for the East Coast. The hospital was formed by hotels, Chalfonte, Haddon Hall and Colton Manor, (last one our residence). We were accorded percs of Army 2nd Lt. ate in Officers' Mess, drilled on Boardwalk in fatigues...gray "designer" street uniforms with beret. While on duty, we wore white nurse uniforms and caps. It's exciting to find this modern recognition and interest for Frances Bolton's Cadet Nurses. |
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Verna Hill Cadet Nurse Eastern Oregon College of Education Verna Hill, who lives in La Grande, holds the distinction of being a member of Eastern Oregon College of Education’s first U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps class in 1943. The students, all women younger than 30, first studied at Eastern for nine months before going to The Dalles Hospital to do clinical work for a year. Next they fanned out to a variety of other hospitals for additional training. Read more |
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Phyllis K Heusinkveld Provenzano Cadet Nurse Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago, Illinois As a student nurse cadet, we replaced R.N.s for general duty when a World War I Reserve unit from our hospital was reactivated and sent abroad in World War II. |
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Frances Herman Rosenberg Cadet Nurse Mt. Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, Cleveland, Ohio I graduated high school in 1945 and was accepted into the U.S. Cadet Corps to be trained for nursing in Mt. Sinai of Cleveland, Ohio, when World War II was won. My friend and I were excited to learn we would be in the last class and would be able to become nurses. I was issued a uniform which was too big but I wore it home to the delight of my parents. I think that was the only time I wore it. The Corps shaped my life as I couldn't afford to become a nurse without it. I don't know what job or career I would have landed in. |
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Gloria Faye Hendrix MacNeill Cadet Nurse Franklin School of Nursing, San Francisco, California I went to San Francisco Community College, then to Franklin School of Nursing in San Francisco for my R.N. I worked at the Naval Hospital in Riverside, California (NORCO0. I am actively working to obtain recognition for our service and was featured in a local newspaper article on the subject (copy available on request).gloriamacneill@yahoo.com |
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Dorothy Heiliger Mericle Cadet Nurse Lincoln General Hospital, Lincoln, Nebraska I graduated from high school in 1945 and immediately enlisted in the Cadet Nurse Corp. I was just seventeen years and four months! Nebraska had a minimum age of 17 1/2 to enter the Corp, without special consent. My nurses training was provided at Lincoln (Nebraska) General Hospital, with special courses at the University of Nebraska. I completed my training in the fall of 1948, which after passing State Board exams was certified as a Register Nurse. The war being over. I did serve at Lincoln General Hospital, transferring to Riverside (California) Community Hospital and finally completed my career as a Pediatrics Nurse with 26 years of service! Without the Nurse Corp, I would not have had the opportunity to pursue this excellent profession! |
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Nancy Heard Researcher I am writing a history of the Cadet Nurse Corps in the Deep South for my MA thesis. If anyone is interested or knows of anyone who might be interested in being interviewed, I would greatly appreciate you contacting me at njt50@msstate.edu. |
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Isabelle E. Haynes Cadet Nurse I started with USCNC in 1943 graduated 1946. I have been in the Harvard Nurses' Health Study for years. Curious as to what's going on. |
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Rosalie Hatos Wojcik Cadet Nurse University of Akron/Akron City Hospital, Akron, Ohio I was stationed at the VA Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1945-1947. We treated amputees and TB soldiers returning from Europe. |
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Dorothy Harrington Hall Cadet Nurse Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing, Boston, Massachusetts I joined the Corps when I entered the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing in 1943 having graduated from high school. After my graduation from MGH I spent 2 years at home caring for my mother who had terminal Cancer. Following her death I did institutional nursing in the OR, head nursing in a couple of hospitals in NYC; Washington, DC; and Sarasota, Fl. While in NYC I became a student for a BS degree at New York University and then for my Master's Degree at Columbia University. After that I became a Director of Nursing at a Public Health Nursing Agency in Massachusetts for 7 years before becoming a Public Health Nursing consultant for the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health and then finally the District Health Officer working with 67 local communities of the Northeast Region of the state to help them upgrade local services, also overseeing a regional staff of 35plus. I retired in 1988 after 40 plus years in nursing, mostly in Public Health. I am now widowed and enjoying a life of volunteerism with the local community, especially through our Senior Center. I have also been involved in local town committees, etc., and enjoying my retirement doing a lot of travel at home and abroad. |
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Sarah Hardic Lidell Cadet Nurse Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York I was a member of the US Cadet Nurses Corps at Hartwick College, Oneonta New York, from 1944 – 1946, at which time I left to marry my husband, Wallace, after his return from serving with the 12th Armored Division in the European Campaign. I more recently was involved with the Hartwick College Nursing program to assist their students on a project documenting the Cadet Nurses Program at Hartwick. I was proud to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the College for my support and involvement in the Nursing program. When I entered Hartwick, there was one academic building on the campus, the top floor of which was the nursing arts laboratory, where we practiced patient care skills before moving on to clinical practice at Fox Hospital. In those days, we sharpened our own hypodermic needles and sterilized bedpans on the unit! How much has changed from those days. |
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Blanche Haertsch Cadet Nurse Germantown Hospital and Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I am a graduate of Germantown Hospital and Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, class of 1948. We have so many little stories of interest. The sound of a piercing GONG going off at 10 p.m. we had to be in our rooms. At 10:30 p.m. GONG meant, all lights out. If we needed more study time, it was underneath our blankets with the aid of a flashilight. My two sisters and I were very fortunate and proud to be Cadet Nurses and have many fond memories. I thank you. |
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Dorothy Griffin Utz Cadet Nurse Massachusetts Memorial Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Dorothy Griffin Utz was recently designated a member of the Special Honor Roll of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps and received membership in the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Utz was recognized for her militarized service in the U.S. Public Health Service from 1943 to 1946. Mrs. Utz is the widow of the late Dr. John P. "Jack" Utz, a physician she met at the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Boston in 1947 and married later that year. The couple had five children. During their career Dorothy and her husband served at medical facilities in Rochester, MN; Bethesda, MD; Paris, France; Richmond, VA; and Washington, D.C. |
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Jan Greenberg Cadet Nurse Newton Wellesley Hospital, Massachusetts Jan Greenberg graduated from high school in 1945 and was already scheduled to enter the Cadet Nurse Corps at Newton Wellesley Hospital but the war ended before classes got started. Each student was immediately contacted and assured that the end of hostilities did nothing to ease the critical shortage of nurses. She was still needed as other personnel would be transferred to military and veterans hospitals. "We would often work second and third shifts with no supervision of RNs," she noted, and had to balance that with the demands of accelerated classes. But it was everything an aspiring future nurse could hope for, an opportunity that might not have been possible except for the government program and she was determined to make the best of it. Coming to Foxboro in 1950, Jan did floor duty at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro and served throughout the facility. An unusual opportunity presented itself when the Department of Mental Health opened Walnut Lodge, once part of the state farm on Walnut Street, as a geriatrics nursing home. The purpose was to create a model of care for the elderly just as the nursing home industry began to gain momentum. It was a unique experience, in that she served geriatrics clients as well as patients from the Foxborough State Hospital. Having had psychiatric training in addition to nursing, she asked for a transfer with the opening for her specialty in the Dexter Building, the hospital unit of the state hosptial. She worked there for many years until transferred to the Brockton Multi Service Center at Taunton in 1970. As the operation of the Foxboro facility was closing down, the Taunton unit closed and Jan retired after 30 years of service with the state. She launched a volunteer involvement with Operation Reassurance, making daily phone calls to check on local seniors that lasted 20 years. -adapted from The Foxboro Reporter, Thursday, November 12, 2009, p. 5 |
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Virginia Graves Olsen Cadet Nurse Beverly Hospital School of Nursing, Beverly, Massachusetts Virginia Olsen, was in the nurse cadet corps during WW2. Her daughter is a registered nurse and has a great interest in the history of nursing, especially as it relates to her Mother and her unacknowledged contribution. |
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Carolyn Lenora Goosic Andelt Cadet Nurse Lincoln General Hospital Lincoln, Nebraska I was in Cadet Nurse Corps 1945-1948 Graduated Lincoln General Hospital Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1948 with RN. My nursing career includes general hospital-US Army Hospital-VA Hospital-Office nurse EENT including assistant at all surgeries-Public School Nurse-surgery assistant for oral surgeon. |
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Bette Girmscheid Murray Cadet Nurse After graduation in 1946, I was a surgical nurse for several years and then worked as “The Nurse” for a couple of Urological Specialists. Then I got married and moved onto other nursing positions: In-service Education at a Children’s Hospital; some long term work in a doctor’s office; and finally back to a hospital and bedside nursing as night supervisor. I was fortunate in this position to be offered the opportunity to be in the first graduating class of CCU Nurses in the 60’s. Then my husband died. After several years in ICU/CCU, I moved into the field of chemical dependency where I spent the remainder of my career as an educator/supervisor until the hospital closed. After that I did some part time Home Health nursing until 1999 when I suffered a massive stroke and have been fully retired since then. I made a remarkable recovery and now keep busy in the community and in my high school and nursing school alumni associations with volunteer projects.Nursing has been a wonderful life for me and I am grateful to the U.S. Cadet Nurse Program for providing me with a fulfilling profession. This picture was taken on location sometime after we got our uniforms. How proud we were to wear them. |
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Connie Gause Cadet Nurse, Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother, Evangeline Gause, was a member of the U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps and was so very proud of that fact. She did not complete service as she became pregnant with my sister and she was not allowed to continue. She had always wanted to be a nurse and serve her country so she finally got the opportunity to restart her nursing training in the 1960's. She went on to become an outstanding nurse and worked at the hospital at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, as well as other hospitals as a Nurse. |
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Margaret Gallogly Shea Cadet Nurse Roger Williams General Hospital School of Nursing, Providence, Rhode Island Margaret Gallogly Shea attended the Roger Williams General Hospital School of Nursing in Providence, Rhode Island from 1944, and she graduated in 1947. |
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Dorothy Gale Cadet Nurse Deaconess Hospital, Evansville, Indiana I joined the CNC in 1944 at Deaconess Hospital, Evansville, Indiana. The war ended while I was still in school so I continued my training there and worked there until I married. |
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Helen K. Fritzee Holland Cadet Nurse Springfield Memorial School of Nursing, Springfield, Illinois I went into the Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943 at Springfield Memorial Hospital and graduated after 3 years and became a Registered Nurse.I worked in a doctor's office for three years and one year in an industrial plant. I was also an operating nurse for two years in a V.A. hospital and a psychiatric nurse for eight years in a V.A. hospital. I also served at Girl Scout summer camps as a First Aid nurse. |
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Shirley Frank O'Keefe Cadet Nurse Syracuse Memorial Hospital, New York I graduated from Syracuse Memorial Hospital in June 1945. By then the war was over, so I served by staffing the hospital during my training. Some of my classmates went on to a stateside, Army or Navy facility during an active cadet period. I chose to serve at home by working on Obstetrics and caring for active servicemen's wives. I chose to leave the Corps when my fiancee returned home from active duty overseas in the European theatre of action. We were married and soon began our family. Several of my classmates (there aren't that many of us left), also served in the corps. |
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Alice Elizabeth Flynn Cavallo Cadet Nurse Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania I have graduation pictures in uniform, in storage. ... This program helped me fulfill my dream of becoming a nurse. After graduation I accepted a position at Presbyterian Hospital, NYC, which opened my eyes to the world around me. I spent one year at USC, San Francisco, and came back to Columbia Presbyterian. Married, moved to New Jersey, did school nursing. I live in a senior residence near my son, here in New Jersey. |
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Elaine Firestone Grollman Cadet Nurse Sinai Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland I was in the Cadet Nurse Corps from 1944 to 1947. I trained at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and worked in New York at Mt Sinai Hospital for a year and returned to Sinai until 1954. I did not nurse after that. I got married and lived in Stevensville, Maryland. I am now living in Deerfield Beach Fl. I am interested in whatever is going on. |
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Marie Fehlow Cadet Nurse Qunicy City Hospital School of Nursing, Quincy, Massachusetts I was eager to join the Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943 when Congress passed the Bolton Act. The stipend attracted me! Do I remember correctly? Ten dollars a month 1st year of training, $15/month 2nd year, and $20/month 3rd year. My sister had joined the WAAC, and I was ready to go!By the time I was graduated, 1946, the war was over, and I had moved up to charge nurse in the delivery room at Quincy City Hospital, but I didn't want to live in the same house, same street, same town all my life. So I spend many a day off at the Boston Army Base saying, "Here I am!" Two years later, May 1948, they called me and with two weeks' notice off I went.I met my husband, career army, before I finished basic training at the Medical Field Service School, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, but I had joined the army to see the world, and I said good bye. No need to go on, but I had a wonderful military wife life, and it all started with the Cadet Nurse Corps!I am a charter member of the Women's Memorial.They say I'm known in the community for my volunteerism supporting Jordan Hospital, the Friends of the Council on Aging, Cranberry Hospice and other organizations.I was born in Plymouth to Italian immigrants and am a mother of three and a community activist. |
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Margaret Kathryn Featherstone McDuff Cadet Nurse Seton School of Nursing, Colorado Springs, Colorado Served with the Nursing Corp at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center. Met my Husband SGT. John McDuff there and settled in the Denver area after the war. I currently reside in Estes Park, Colorado. |
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Eileen Farley McDonnell Cadet Nurse Cornell-New York Hospital, New York City I trained at Cornell-New York Hospital from 1944-1947 |
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Pamela Emmons-Beasley Relative of a Cadet Nurse My paternal grandmother, Frieda Emmons was a Cadet Nurse. She worked as a nurse up until the time of her death in 1968 or 1969. |
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Douglas L Emerson, Jr. Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother, Elaine Etter Emerson, took training at the Alexandria Hospital School of Nursing in Alexandria, Virginia. She traveled from her hometown of Waynesboro, Pa. in 1944 and graduated in 1946. She stayed in Alexandria where she worked in the hospital ER and married a fireman. She started a family of 3 in 1949 and remained in nursing for 35 years. I am very proud to be the son of a Cadet Nurse. I have supported the cause to get them recognized as "home front" veterans and in 2002 was able to get the Senate of Virginia to pass a joint proclamation #230 recognizing the contributions Cadet Nurses have made to this country. I will always support the cause for just recognition. Thank you to all of the CADET NURSES. Thank you mom. |
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Thelma Edwards Lanigan Cadet Nurse Roger Williams General Hospital School of Nursing, Providence, Rhode Island Thelma Edwards Lanigan received her nurse training at the Roger Williams General Hospital School of Nursing, Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated in 1947. |
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Marie Domenick Zeoli Cadet Nurse St. Francis School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania I was a Cadet Nurse during WWII. I graduated from St. Francis School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1948 class. I entered the Cadet Nurse program January 1945. I am 86 years young. I worked as an RN for 50 years and am now retired. |
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Anne Dillon Jeffers Cadet Nurse University of Texas Nursing School in Houston, TX and Methodist Hospital School of Nursing
After graduation from nursing school in 1947, I went for additional training in psychiatric nursing. My career included teaching; administration; psychiatric, geriatric and general nursing. I thoroughly enjoyed nursing and all that I learned from it. I appreciate the opportunity provided by the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps and am proud of the service I gave in return. |
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Betty Louise Dilgard Keener Cadet Nurse Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing, Ashland, Ohio I trained at Samaritan Hospital in Ashland, Ohio, 1944-1947. I spent my Senior Cadet service at Fort Defiance, Arizona! I married and of my six children, one is a nurse and two more granddaughters are nurses. |
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Joye G Debell Megow Cadet Nurse I have been a participant in the [Harvard] Nurse Health Studies since about its beginning, and in my update of NHS News this month they had an excellent article on the Cadet Nurse Corps. So many of my colleagues have passed on, so I have to commend you for your long endeavor to get recognition for our service. I am 88 now and won't live to see it happen, but I do appreciate your efforts.I was stationed at Saint Albans Naval Hospital on Long Island, New York, in 1945 for 6 months and worked on the paraplegic and burn wards. These young men were our age and I still remember the pitiful and painful ordeal of putting them in water and peeling off burned skin. We also worked with those who were having skin grafts from one part of their body attaching it to other areas to rebuild their faces and other damaged body areas. I still remember those faces as well. It has an honor to serve these hurting, wounded men who endured so much.I worked as an RN until I retired.Don't you or your associates give up on your mission. |
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Elizabeth Damon Beecher Cadet Nurse Massachusetts Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, Boston, Massachusetts I entered Massachusetts Memorial Hospital School of Nursing February of 1943. The following September I joined the Cadet Corps. In 1945 after 2½ years of training I was sent to the U.S. Marine Hospital, Staten Island, NY. In March of 1946 I received my R.N. and remained at the hospital until 1948. At that time I transverred to the Marine Hospital, Brighton, MA and was there until 1960. |
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Grace Cunningham Weismantel Cadet Nurse Lenox Hill School of Nursing, New York City, New York I entered Lenox Hill Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, New York, in 1945 under the cadet nurse program where I could get a government-paid education. I graduated in 1948, working in pediatrics and outpatient clinic. I married an army veteran of World War II who survived the Battle of the Bulge. Iam now 84 and volunteer at the local hospital and belong to the R.N. club in Sun City Center, Florida. |
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Mary Jean Cunnea Cadet Nurse St. Bernard's School of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois Mary was the second of six children, entering the St. Bernard's School of Nursing, affiliated with Loyola University, in February, 1944. During the war, St. Bernard's added a second class of student nurses, allowing both a September and February class of graduates. All 21 students in Mary Jean's class were in the Cadet program. The nursing students were issued a Cadet uniform and pledged to uphold the stipulations of the Public Health Service. Along with Mary's commitment to serving as a Cadet Nurse, her father, John W., also served his country in North Africa and Italy as an officer in the Merchant Marine. She remembers traveling from Chicago to North Carolina by train with her mother and her then youngest sister Dolly, to bid farewell to their father as he embarked for overseas service. Mary said the trains were filled to capacity as many soldiers and families prepared for war obligations. All three of the family members shared a top bunk for the overnight journey.
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Marie Creamer March Cadet Nurse Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Northampton, Massachusetts Marie Creamer March was in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps from 1943 to 1946. Her training days were filled with a lot of work at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts. Other training locations included: West Roxbury Women & Children's Hospital (pediatrics) in Boston; also Charfles V. Chapin Hospital in Rhode Island for contagious diseases. |
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Hilda Crane Lineweaver Cadet Nurse Jefferson Medical College Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Hilda Crane trained at the Jefferson Medical College Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1944 to 1947. She served in the Reserve for a number of years and spent a lot of weekends in field hospitals. |
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Isabel Cradduck Cicero Cadet Nurse Alfred University School of Nursing, Alfred, New York I completed my nurse training at the Alfred University School of Nursing in 1948. Due to the war ending I was not required to enlist in military service. However, while undergoing our training we were required to volunteer at the local hospital due to the shortage of nurses. My training included affiliations with Children's Hospital, Philadelphia, PA (Pediatrics); Willard State Hospital, NY (Psychiatry); and Tuberculosis Hospital, Mt. Morris, NY (Contagious Diseases).I would not have been able to receive my nursing education if not for the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps and gone on to serve many hours in Nursing and at age 60 formed a business to make it possible for the elderly to remain at home versus a nursing home. The business completed 25 years of service in April 2012.My life has been truly blessed and much credit goes to my education as a Cadet in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. |
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Marjorie G. Cooper Cadet Nurse Newark City Hospital, New Jersey Pam DeKoeyer writes: My Mom, Marjorie G. Cooper graduated from Newark City Hospital in 1945. She is now 90 years old and still in New Jersey. Mom loved the USCNC and said it was hard work. She worked as a nurse until age 75. Mom is ill now from strokes and diabetes, and there is no government helpf for her. My Dad was a World War II veteran. |
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Elaine Christensen Elliott Cadet Nurse University of California School of Nursing, San Francisco, CA Elaine Christensen Elliott attended the University of California at San Francisco School of Nursing from October 1944 to February 1947. |
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Donna Chamberlain Otley Cadet Nurse Flower Hospital, Toledo, Ohio I was enrolled in the Cadet Nurse Corp at Flower Hospital, Toledo, Ohio, from 1944 to 1947. |
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Minnie B Carter Cadet Nurse I support H.R. 1718 United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act because I served from 1944-1947. Forty-eight hour work weeks were the norm and our schedules were based on a combination of classes and clinical experience. I was one of the Cadet Nurses who provided 80% nursing care in our nation's hospitals and helped to integrate many hospitals. I have and still am working with former Cadet Nurses to get a bill passed in Congress. The year 2007 was our eighth act introduced into the House of Representatives for recognition. We as veterans deserve to be recognized. It has been quite a struggle.I am a charter member of the Women's Memorial (1997).I, with a group of 12 veterans of all ranks was honored as a guest speaker to the Library of Congress Project. I was the only Cadet Nurse. Videos were taken and the pictures of my speech will be in the Library of Congress Project. |
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Elizabeth Carignan Yeznach Cadet Nurse St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing, Hartford, Connecticut I attended St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in Hartford, Connecticut from September 1943 to graduation in September 1946 with two classmates with whom I had gone through grammar and high school.After graduation I worked at a Psychiatric Hospital and had a succession of positions in other nursing areas such as medical/surgical, obstetris, Private Duty and part time school nursing until my retirement in May 2009.I have been involved in seeking recognition of the Cadet Nurses for a long time, even going to Washington to give testimony to the Armed Forces Committee. The 70th anniversity of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps is in 2013. I hope that this will be the year for some recognition. |
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Dorothy Callahan Palmer Cadet Nurse Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing, New York City, New York I'D LIKE TO HEAR FROM CLASSMATES FROM BELLEVUE CLASS OF MARCH 48. |
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Myrl C Mallory Cadet Nurse Georgia Baptist School of Nursing, Macon, Georgia Myrl C Mallory was a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. She is 94 years old and lives in an assisted living home near her daughter. She graduated from the Georgia Baptist School of Nursing (now Mercer University School of Nursing) and served at St. Albans Naval Hospital, Long Island, New York. She served as a Public Health nurse in Thomaston, GA until her retirement.Posted May 10, 2012 |
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Annette M Butler Norris Cadet Nurse Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia I am one of the five graduates of Hampton University U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps of 1946. |
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Lola Brillhart Cadet Nurse I joined the Corps in 1944 and would like to help keep the corps memories alive and would like to be included in list of people that helped make the corps what it was and still is. |
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Madene Briggs Cadet Nurse Barre City Hospital School of Nursing, Barre, Vermont I trained at Barre City Hospital in Barre, Vermont, from 1943 to 1946. As a Senior Cadet, I spend six months at Boston City Hospital. |
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LaVerne Bretz Shuck Cadet Nurse School of Nursing Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia I entered the US Cadet Nurse Corps after graduating from high school in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, in 1943. I will always cherish the memories and friends I made during those wonderful 3 years. I remained active in the nursing profession until my reirement in 1980. |
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Elizabeth Bredlau Pevsner Cadet Nurse Los Angeles County Hospital School of Nursing, California After six months of training, the student Cadet Nurses and interns ran Los Angeles County Hospital during WW2, which at the time was one of the largest hospitals in US or any where. We had excellent training. |
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Eula Branham Baughman Cadet Nurse, Relative of a Cadet Nurse Newark Licking County, Ohio Patty White writes: My mother Eula Branham Baughman was in the Cadet Nurse Corps in the mid 1940s. She trained in Newark Licking County, Ohio, and worked as a nurse until retirement, then volunteered as a nurse with hospice until they had paid nurses. She will be 88 years old in September 2012. |
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Ruth Bradburn Rudawski Cadet Nurse St. Francis School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania My class was approached by US Army recruiting to join the US Army Cadet Corps. I eagerly applied, passed all requirements and was accepted. January 1945 I received assignment to report to Deshon Army Hospital in Butler, PA. I served as a student Cadet Nurse from January to June 1945. My intention was to join the Army Nurse Corps upon graduation and Registration. The war ended and I was notified nurses were no longer needed. |
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Caroline Bradburn Bradford Cadet Nurse Garfield Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, Washington, D.C. In June 1942, I graduated from high school-- on September 16, 1942, I entered Garfield Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, DC. In July 1943, with much publicity, Mrs Bolton visited our Hospital and the students who wished to join pledged ourselves to serve in essential nursing for the duration of the war. We were fitted (??) for uniforms (they were all too big!) which we wore with pride. We Cadets were the backbone of total patient care until our graduation in September, 1945. We worked 8 hours a day plus attended our classes and did our homework, often working until 11 pm and returning at 7 am. I served at Garfield Hospital in DC, Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, St. Elizabeth's Hospital in DC, and the last 6 months at Newton D Baker General Army Hospital, Martinsburg, WV, where we were assigned to Officer's quarters, Officer's mess, even subjected to a drill Sargent! It was here that we welcomed and cared for survivors of the Baatan Death March, POWs from Germany, changed numerous orthopedic dressings, helped many with eye injuries, as well as those with anxiety and psychiatric issues. We were welcomed at USO events. I planned to enlist in the Army Nurse Corps but fortunately The War ended so I applied to the Veterans' Administration and was sent to Winter General Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. My time in the Cadet Nurse Corps had a defining influence on the way I approached the rest of my life. |
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Verna Borovoy Merrin Cadet Nurse University of Wisconsin School of Nursing, Madison, Wisconsin If funding for my education to become a RN was not available, I could not become a RN. My parents could not pay for this education.I worked as an RN for about 27 years. |
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Glenna Blakeslee Hula Cadet Nurse St. Mary's Hospital, Grand Rapids, Michigan I graduated from Mercy Central School of Nursing in 1948, from St. Mary's Hospital, Grand Rapids, Michigan. |
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Jacqueline Carroll Bennett Cadet Nurse Roger Williams General Hospital School of Nursing, Providence, Rhode Island Jacqueline Carroll Bennett was part of the class of 1947 at Roger Williams General Hospital School of Nursing, Providence, Rhode Island. |
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Dorothy Bell Lewolt Cadet Nurse Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing, New York City, New York I trained in Bellevue School of Nursing, NYC from June '45 to June '48. I worked at Gouveneur Hospital on Water Street in NYC, married raised 5 sons, and moved to California in 1960. There I received my Bachelor of Arts degree with Health Education major from California State Northridge (formerly SF Valley State) in June, 1964. I had a 20 year career as a School Nurse Educator. |
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Rosemarie Battaglia Cadet Nurse Quincy City Hospital School of Nursing, Quincy, Massachusetts When I attended the first day tea party (August 15, 1945) at Quincy City Hospital with the starched and very proper Miss Potter I had no idea what the future held for me. The first surprise was that evening turned out to be VJ Day. My vision of wearing the sharp gray and red dress uniform vanished—blue and white checked dress with a white apron and black shoes and stockings were all we had (oh yes, I forgot the heavily starched attachable collars—painful).All these many years later I'm still appreciative of the start Cadet Corps afforded me and the education and training Quincy City Hospital School of Nursing provided. I pursued my profession in so many different roles over the fifty-six years I was active and always knew that QCH had basically prepared me for anything. |
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Cleona Vey Bart Duncan Cadet Nurse University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado I entered the University of Colorado in 1943 at age 18 on a four year program leading to a Bachelor of Science Nursing Degree, graduating in June 1947. My 36 months in the Cadet Nurse Corps was 1944 to 1947. The first year was at Boulder, while the final two years were at Colorado General Hospital in Denver...
...In 1980 I retired from nursing. We moved to the Sierra Nevada foothills in Newcastle, near Sacramento, CA where I have lived for 34 years with Jack, my husband of 66 years.
Click here or on the images above to view both of my scrapbook pages in PDF format. |
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Eve Bakas Standke Cadet Nurse, Relative of a Cadet Nurse Waltham Hospital School of Nursing, Waltham, Massachusetts Eve Bakas Standke's daughter writes: I am very proud to be my mother's daughter. I am also anurse, in California at present. My mother insisted I attend Massachusetts General Hospital for my diploma, and it has served me well. I am presently a nurse in California. My mother served at Ft Devens in World War 2. |
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Barbara Bachelder Lincoln Cadet Nurse Lenox Hill School of Nursing, New York City, New York I graduated in September 1947. I returned to school for my PHN, my SNT and my BS in health services. I worked in many fields of nursing, retiring in 1979. My husband was retired Air Force. After retiring, we traveled the world. I'm still hoping that we will be recognized as veterans. |
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Bill Asher Researcher I am an amateur historian from Kitsap County, Washington. I am doing research on local service men and women who lost their lives during times of war. I am looking for any information you might have on Wilma Louise “Billie Lou” Huneke. She attended school at Virginia Mason in Seattle, WA from 1943 to 1944. She died on November 17, 1944, from I believe an illness but I am not sure. I would appreciate any help you could give me.Contact Bill at basher82@wavecable.com |
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Norma Ash Cadet Nurse Grace Hospital School of Nursing, Detroit, Michigan I received my training at the Grace Hospital School of Nursing in Detroit, Michigan, from 1945-1948. I am still trying to get my son to find the album of our service years: my husband in the Seabees in Pearl Harbor and me in Grace Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. I wrote a book—The Girl in the White Hat—two copies for family. I've written 12 other books—not published. |
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Phyllis Aronhime Cadet Nurse Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, Baltimore, Maryland I graduated from Sinai Hospital School of Nursing in Baltimore, Md. in 1947. |
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Mark Almy Relative of a Cadet Nurse My mother, Barbara Louise Hofstra Almy, often spoke of her service as a cadet nurse but I really never put much recognition towards it since I never really heard much about it until now. My late father and myself are both veterans. My father passed away in 2003 from Alzheimer's but my mother continued living at the same house (my wife and I were with her there) until a weak heart and Alzheimer's also took her. She is now is with the man she shared so much love for. I miss them both very much.Thank you for caring enough to allow me to share this with you. As a veteran myself I feel the Cadet Nurses should be honored for their duty to our country as all of our veterans are remembered. |
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Iris Allen Timmerman Cadet Nurse Women's Hospital School of Nursing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I graduated in 1947 and went to Hawaii where I practiced nursing for many years on three of the different islands. I also worked in California at San Diego County Hospital for a while. I have never been east again to attend any reunions but would have liked to. I got a page on Facebook a few years ago only to announce that I was looking for other Cadet Nurses but got no response. I'm so happy to have found this page and I hope to contact some of my old classmates. Although I am ninety years old this year most of them were a few years younger than I was may still be around or be tough like I am. |
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Barbara Agard Kiser Cadet Nurse Highland General Hospital School of Nursing, Oakland, California I entered the U.S. Nurse Corp after graduation from Palo Alto High School (California) in June of 1943. I was one of 40 girls selected for this first class. We spent the first three months at Mills College in Oakland, California. We were then transferred to Highland General Hospital, also in After completing our "probie" period, we were given our U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps uniforms in December of 1943. Although Highland Hospital was a 3 story, 300 bed, facility, they only kept 2 floors open, due to the fact that there were no men to work there during the war. I can only remember one fellow working in the whole building. Our hospital "blue" uniforms did not include the white aprons from earlier years, so as to save on laundry staffing. Highland Hospital had an extensive Communicable Disease Ward at that time, and girls were sent from Los Angeles to Highland to take classes in Communicable Diseases. We had excellent teachers. Shifts were for 8 hours. We worked all the time - 7 days a week. We were paid $8.00 per month! The first 6 months of our senior year, we received a $5.00 per month raise. Considering that all of us had gone through the "great Depression" of the 1920's and 1930's, we thought we were rich!!! We had to autoclave bedpans; move oxygen tanks to the bedsides; make surgical packs for sterilizing; wash, dry, powder, insert surgical gloves into folders for sterilization. You should have seen the cast room. The walls were spattered with plaster of Paris, but there was no one to wash down the walls during the war! We student nurses had to take care of the patients Highland Hospital sent us to other hospitals for experience, each time for about 3 months. I worked at a Tuberculosis Sanatorium, which was connected to Highland Hospital - a face mask was compulsory. You could never remove the face mask for fear of contracting the disease. The first year you got a star to pin on the shoulder epilates, so when you were a Senior, you had 3 stars! When a nurse had a day off, you were required to wear your uniform, and you were only allowed into certain areas in the city of Oakland, (they wanted to protect us) as the Navy also had a base there. The servicemen would salute us, not knowing what rank we were! Wow! I I was selected as Senior class president. In 1946, I was the class Valedictorian, and got to call each girl to the stage to hand out their R.N. pins. I remember the first line of my speech: "We are proud to be the first class in the State of California to have completed the full three years of I graduated on a Thursday, got married to my Marine that next Sunday, and took my State Boards the next Tuesday! I worked as a nurse for 46 years, but my nursing continues to this day. My Purple Heart husband of 67 years lost his leg on Iwo Jima in 1945. Many thanks to the U.S. Government for this training. |
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Janet Lowe Cadet Nurse Arizona Deaconess Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona On July 11, 1923, Janet was the first baby girl born at Banner Good Samaritan, known then as Arizona Deaconess Hospital. Her parents’ hospital bill totaled a whopping $59.75; the most expensive charge was for the room at just slightly more than $51. “My mother was a nurse and wanted me to be born in a hospital,” said Lowe. “She worried that the facility wouldn’t be open on time but it had just opened to patients when she was admitted for my birth.” Growing up, Janet and her mother would regularly ride past Good Samaritan on the Brill Line electric streetcar on their way to Downtown Phoenix for shopping. And, about 20 years later in September 1943, she followed in her mother’s footsteps and joined the hospital’s three-year nursing school. “A few months later we were given the opportunity to join a government program called ‘Cadet Nurses,’” she said. “It required a commitment to serve in the Armed Forces upon graduation and we received a stipend of $5 per month for our first year.” But World War II ended before Janet graduated in November 1946 and instead of joining the frontlines, she married Lewis Lowe, a United States serviceman who had been a prisoner of war in Poland. By 1948, the couple was expecting their first child – a daughter, also born at Banner Good Samaritan. The daily newspaper even ran an article on the women, the first mother-daughter pair to be born at the same facility. Story courtesy of Banner-University Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona |
August 1944 classes at The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing began the 6-month Probie stint. Within four (4) weeks of classes, a need found us in the wards, especially on Maternity for emptying bedpans. [Maternity had scheduled bedpan times.] After Probie days the next part of the 3-year curriculum was compressed to eighteen (18) months. Classes, floor-work in rotations - The next eighteen months was full-time on all floors on day, evening and night shifts. A senior student nurse (a black velvet band on white nurse's cap) was often in charge of 3 p.m. - 11 p.m. and 11 p.m . -7 a.m. or with an underclassman. There was one nurse RN Supervisor on 3 p.m. - 11 p.m. and 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. (who often worked 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.) for the entire hospital, including Operating Room (OR) & Emergency Room (ER).
Beverly graduated from Washburn High School, Washburn ND, in 1940 and then worked for one year in the AAA office at the Courthouse. She told me she worked for Lettie Christiansen, up in the attic of the courthouse and earned $50. She then did some babysitting, for the Nelson boys, for 50 cents a day. She told me that her dad sold an old tractor and some other found items to come up with the first $100 for her to start nursing school. September 9, 1941 she went to Bismarck to attend school at Bismarck Evangelical Hospital School of Nursing. Tuition included uniforms, books and their first pair of shoes. I asked her what led her to choice to go into nursing and she told me that she looked at Home Economics and that was 4 years of school and nursing was only 3 years so she chose the shorter schooling.
Vivian A. Harper Cofield, RN, joined the Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943. She graduated from "the Meyer" in 1945, planning to enlist in the U.S. Army. The war was ending so she chose not to enlist. Vivian practiced nursing for 55 years--maternity, pediatrics, medical surgical, emergency/trauma, and urology. She was a staff nurse, charge nurse, head nurse, and clinic nurse. She became certified in urological nursing (CURN) and was President of the Society of Urological Nurses and Associates. Vivian was also active in the NYS PTA--president at PS 53 and an officer of the Western District PTA. She married and raised 4 children while working and supporting her community and profession. She kept remnants of her Cadet uniform and shared stories of her student days. At 93, Vivian is sharp, a great historian, and always the nurse.
One night, in the fall of 1943, I overheard some schoolmates talking about going into the nurse training. One of them said she was going into the Cadet Nurse Corps, a government program started to lessen the nurse shortage. All expenses were paid by the government. She had already been accepted by Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. This was the first time I'd heard either one discuss this, so I thought I should consider it too. I figured this should be okay with my parents and they couldn't object as long as they didn't have to pay for it. I often helped out in the Principal's office and saw literature about the Cadet Nurse Corps. I had never really had any desire to be a nurse but this was a great opportunity to have a career and also help the war effort.
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My Grandmother Patsy Trainor Walden trained to be a Cadet Nurse in Tempe, Arizona. My favorite story of her was that she would hide in the closet with a flashlight at night so she could study. She moved to Farmington, NM in the 50's and was a nurse for a local doctor. Later when she and her husband Earl were sent to the Reservation in AZ for work in oilfield, she served as the Camp Nurse for the housing units for El Paso. She was born October 30, 1927 and passed away March 20,1972.
Our Mother served as a cadet nurse from October 2, 1944, to January 2, 1946, in Washington, D. C. She was stationed at Providence Hospital Nursing School, a division of Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. The Cadet Nurse Corps was under the Federal Security Agency, U.S. Public Health Service, Division of Nurse Education. Cadet Nurses trained in military uniform to become commissioned officers in the military services. Eleanor was so enthusiastic about joining the Cadet Nurse Corps that she entered the corps at age 17, having worked hard to graduate from Woodrow Wilson High School early. She had been dancing ballet for the Washington Ballet Company also and sacrificed her dancing career to serve the war effort as a Cadet Nurse. She fulfilled her Cadet Nurse Oath by serving until the duration of the war. Subsequently she married Bob Oversby, had five children, and retired as a school teacher, and now lives in Bryan, Texas, with her husband, Hugh. She still loves to practice her ballet and piano. She is also memorialized on the World War II Memorial web site.
Hi. My name is Lois Ross. I live in Morro Bay, California. I am a retired Cadet who graduated from the Nurse Corps at French Hospital in San Francisco, approximately 1948. I am 90 years of age and going strong. My neighbor brought this website to my attention. I do not have Internet access. If anyone would like to contact me, please 
My name is Florence Nudelman Kornblatt. I was born and raised in Scranton, PA. When I graduated from high school in January, 1943, I took a job at a clothing factory making servicemen’s uniforms, unsure whether I would have sufficient funds to continue my education. I saved enough for my first year of school and enrolled in the Hahnemann Hospital School of Nursing at the end of the summer. 
María Pérez Oquendo
I went to nursing school in San Francisco in 1941. I was going to join the U.S. Army after I graduated. In 1943 some of us joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. I joined the Army -- to honor my brother who was killed at Anzio and also because I am proud of our country. I also wanted to show my gratitude to be living in the United States of America.
My mother (Jean {Butler} Booher) is the Cadet Nurse from Nebraska who visited the Women in Military Service for America Memorial referenced in the video by Shirley Harrow on this website. Mother discovered she did belong at the Women's Memorial and that her service had been remembered and recognized. It was a beautiful day for our entire family. We went to Washington DC to see the WWII Memorial recognizing my father's service and left having been able to also honor my mother's service.
I was too young to begin training in Iowa, so, at age seventeen, I left for Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. Homesick, but determined, I quickly fell in love with nursing. During our training, we worked hard, developed close and lasting friendships and had a lot of fun times. With the critical nursing shortage brought on by World War II, we were expected to provide nursing services throughout our training and had to learn quickly. 
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