U.S. NAVY NURSE CORPS SOFT EPAULETS

us navy soft shoulder board ensign nurse corps

From its inception in 1908, the United States Navy Nurse Corps has attracted women and men who have time and again demonstrated not only a desire to help the sick and wounded, but also an indomitable spirit in the face of adversity. This perseverance was displayed when the original twenty members of the Nurse Corps, upon learning that the Act of Congress that had established their organization had not included a provision for housing and meals, promptly sought out and rented a house to serve as a barracks and set up their own mess to prepare meals.

Members of the Nurse Corps have constantly put themselves in harm’s way in order to fulfill their missions. During World War II, for example, a group of eleven Navy Nurses stationed in the Philippines were taken prisoner by the Japanese when Corregidor and Bataan finally fell in the spring of 1942 (sixty-six Army Nurses were also taken into captivity along with them). These Nurses continued to carry out their duties despite the harsh conditions of the Japanese POW camps, and in the process they not only saved many American lives, but also served as an inspiration for the entire nation.

The Nurse Corps was the source of the first woman to reach the rank of Captain: named Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1939, Sue Dauser was promoted to the relative rank of Captain in December, 1942, and some fourteen months later received an actual commission for the rank for the duration of the war. And the Navy Nurse Corps also produced the first woman ever to be promoted to a flag rank when Alene B. Duerk, Director of the Navy Nurse Corps who was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1972.

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Rank

Price

$22.79

Quantity

USPHS

Merchant Marine

AUXILIARY

U.S. NAVY NURSE CORPS SOFT EPAULETS