One of the Most Under-Recognized Roles in Military History

For most of human history, men provided medical care to wounded soldiers on the field of battle. War was considered a male activity, and as such, women were practically barred from entering combat zones. As history progressed and times changed, however, women began to take a more active role in providing medical care to soldiers. During the American Revolutionary War, women followed men to battle to escape chaos but quickly entered into the role of wartime nurses. This first step helped transform one of the most under-recognized roles in military history into one of great importance.

From there, the government realized that if more women provided medical care to wounded soldiers, more men could fight. As the country grew and found itself in various conflicts, including against itself, women took on a more active role in wartime nursing. Within a century or two, nurses evolved from informal caretakers to commissioned military members. In this article, we will explore the timeline of one of the most under-recognized roles in military history. (For women who play vital roles in the armed forces, discover the most decorated women in U.S. military history.)

To compile an overview of one of the most under-recognized roles in military history, 24/7 Tempo consulted a range of military and historical sources including The Duquesne University School of Nursing, the Military Health System, and Krucial Rapid Response. From there, we explored the role of wartime nurses in each major American conflict. After that, we confirmed aspects of our research using sites like the Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive and the National Women's History Museum.

When the American Revolutionary War broke out, it sowed chaos across the colonies. Hoping for safety, food, and chances to work, many women followed men to the battlefield. Some of those women become wartime nurses. At first, soldiers viewed women in their camp as a distraction. As fighting waged on, however, these women became an invaluable part of the war effort. While many entered nurse positions untrained, each woman providing medical care meant more men available to fight.

By 1775, the nascent American government recognized the importance of these caretakers and signed a resolution allotting two dollars per month for each wartime nurse. Furthermore, women who acted as supervisors and go-betweens to the surgeons received $4 a month.

Less than a year later, even basic nurses got their pay bumped to $4. As such, it became the first organized nursing system in the American military. Though many lacked medical training, these wartime nurses played one of the most under-recognized roles in military history. In the process, they blazed a new path for women in war.

While nurses made their mark in the Revolutionary War, the breakout of the Civil War exposed the fact that there was no formalized training system for wartime nurses. Luckily, some people had laid a solid foundation for wartime caretaking. Florence Nightingale, for example, reduced death rates during the Crimean War by improving hygiene practices and camp living standards. When women entered nursing positions in the Civil War, many relied upon the tactics invented by Nightingale to save lives. These practices were standardized in 1862 when the New England Hospital for Women and Children became the first American school to offer a formal nurse training curriculum. 

During the Civil War, wartime nurses cared for soldiers on the Union and Confederate sides, often working much closer to the battlefield. The war also saw the rise of notable nursing figures like Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton. When Congress authorized female nurses for service in Army hospitals, they appointed Dix as superintendent of Women Nurses for the Union. Though she faced criticism for her stringent medical standards, her critical eye proved invaluable to the war effort.

As for Barton, she quit her clerk job at the U.S. Patent Office and set about providing medical care for soldiers and assistance to battlefield surgeons. Though she held no formal medical training, her tireless pursuit of soldier care earned her the nickname the "Angel of the Battlefield." After the war, she also helped establish more formal medical avenues. With President Abraham Lincoln's permission, she created the Office of Missing Soldiers, which helped thousands of soldiers reconnect with their families. Most famously, Barton also founded the American Red Cross in 1881. By all metrics, she advanced wartime nursing from one of the most under-recognized roles in military history to one of value and distinction.

In between wars, the role of wartime nurse transitioned back to a mostly male position. When the Spanish-American War commenced, however, the government realized that the few male nurses could not provide adequate care for the armed forces. In response, the Surgeon General formally authorized the appointment of nurses under military contract. Since it didn't specify gender, many women applied. Just as many were untrained, however, so the Daughters of the American Revolution stepped in.

This organization acted as the examining board for wartime nurses. They also set the standards for a wartime nurse as having graduated from a training school with quality recommendations. Not only did this standardize the role of wartime nurse, but it also created one of the earliest forms of a modern nursing degree. In response, over 1,500 women signed up for the role. Upon being stationed in Cuba and the Philippines, these nurses treated combat injuries as well as fought against tropical diseases like malaria and dengue fever which plagued soldiers.

One of the most important medical workers during the war was Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee. Upon her appointment as acting assistant surgeon general of the U.S. Army, McGee managed all wartime nurses and became the first woman authorized to wear an officer's uniform. After the war, she enacted legislation that established the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. She also wrote one of the first manuals on nursing for the military.

By the time World War I kicked off, America was more prepared for the medical side of fighting. Thanks to the establishment of medical organizations and more formalized training programs for war nurses, the American Red Cross enlisted over 22,000 wartime nurses. Though the government initially sought to keep nurses away from the battlefield, it soon realized more lives could be saved if the nurses were close enough to treat combat injuries on the spot. Many nurses saw placement on the Western Front, where their care improved healing times and saved countless lives.

Even still, wartime nurses remained one of the most under-recognized in military history. By the time the war ended, a movement sought to provide wartime nurses with military ranks. Since their positions were non-commissioned, their authority was often ignored. A few years later, a government agreement allowed the military to assign nurses ranks such as lieutenant, captain, and major.

Later, the secretary of war authorized the creation of the Army School of Nursing. As an alternative to more informal aides in Army hospitals, this school instructed students in several military hospital facilities. While its student nurses wore military uniforms with insignias, they retained their civilian status. Annie W. Goodrich became chief inspector nurse for the Army before occupying the role of the first dean of the Army School of Nursing. For her effort, she received the Distinguished Service Medal. While many graduates of the school went on to provide hospital nursing services or become faculty members, the school closed in 1931 as an economic measure in response to The Great Depression.

When the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred in 1941, the Army Nurse Corps listed only 1,000 nurses on its roll call. In response to the attack, however, that number quickly grew to 12,000. Throughout the war, some 59,000 wartime nurses cared for wounded soldiers. Thanks to intense fighting in multiple regions across the globe, nurses provided care closer to the battlefield than ever before.

Indeed, nurses started working in active fighting zones. Nurse Jane Kendeigh, for example, became the first Navy flight nurse in an active combat zone when she landed on Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theatre. Between March 6-21, 1945, Kendeigh endured an active evacuation mission. Though she was treated to catcalls by some soldiers surprised to see a woman in battle, she also helped attend to and rescue nearly 3,000 soldiers. After that, she landed at the Battle of Okinawa, where she attended to and helped evacuate more soldiers.

Thanks to the brave and tireless work of wartime nurses like Kendeigh, the United States came out of the war with a remarkably low rate of death from injury. Indeed, less than 4% of injured soldiers treated on the battlefield later died of disease or wounding. Due to the work of nurses like Kendiegh or Capt. Norma Parsons, who served in the China-Burma-India Theater, wartime nursing went from one of the most under-recognized roles in military history to one of supreme importance. (For other WWII facts, explore famous top-secret missions of World War II.)

Though it took a long time for the government to recognize the imperative of wartime nurses, by the end of World War II the role became fully legitimate. A year after World War II, only 8,500 nurses remained in the Army Nurse Corps. The government, however, sought to ensure the role regardless of peacetime. On April 16, 1947, Congress reestablished the Army Nurse Corps as part of the Medical Department of the Army. It also established further legitimacy for army nurses in several key areas.

• For one, it ensured that no less than 2,558 nurses remained on staff at all times.
• It also gave army nurses the right to hold permanent commissioned officer status. Called the Army-Navy Nurse Act of 1947, this meant active duty nurses received a permanent rank.
• Though it took over a century and a half of selfless service, nurses finally had permanent commissioned officer status.

These changes helped expand the scope of wartime nursing even further. In 1949, the Air Force established the Air Force Nurse Corps which created active nurse recruiting programs. Since its founding, the Air Force Nurse Corps has served in every considerable military engagement. These expansions also gave way to specializing nursing courses in fields like anesthesiology and operating room craft.

By the time the Korean War kicked off in June 1950, women played a far more active role in the military overall. About 22,000 women worked in the armed services, with over 7,000 serving as health care providers. Just like in World War II, wartime nurses worked on the battlefield, tending to wounds and saving lives.

The Korean War also brought considerable advancements in military and medical technology. Besides the first use of helicopters which helped evacuate wounded troops, the war saw the introduction of the first Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals. Colloquially known as MASH units, these mobile hospitals helped reduce deaths from combat wounds by 50% compared to World War II. 

As for Korean wartime nurses, they found placement in a wide variety of areas. Many army nurses worked hand in hand with doctors in the aforementioned Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals. Navy nurses often served on hospital ships in the ocean surrounding Korea. Air Force nurses usually traveled on helicopters, flying wounded soldiers out of the fight on MEDEVAC aircraft units. Other wartime nurses worked in Japanese hospitals where they attempted to help thousands of transported war casualties. 

Though many American citizens protested their country's entry into the Vietnam War, just as many volunteered to be wartime nurses. While armed service nursing programs were established, many volunteers entered the war with less than six months of nursing experience. As such, the more advanced nurses occupied roles closer to the fighting. Some staffed Navy hospital ships, others worked in hospitals and field hospitals for the Army, while a few worked the airlift helicopters ferrying injured soldiers in and out of battle.

Since men were allowed into the Army Nurse Corps starting in 1955, the Vietnam War became the first conflict to see a major deployment of male nurses. Typically, male wartime nurses were sent into combat zones considered too dangerous for women. Because of the war's unprecedented style of guerilla conflict, these male nurses faced great danger. Indeed, several nurses died while treating soldiers in Vietnam. The war also saw advancements in the aforementioned MEDEVAC program. Now, injured soldiers often would find themselves in a military hospital less than a half hour after taking fire.

Because of these speedy transports, hospital nurses faced an onslaught of wounded soldiers in quick succession. This required nurses to work in a sort of triage system. There, quick decisions decided which soldiers were a priority and how they would be treated. To handle the sheer amount of injured servicemen requiring treatment, Vietnam wartime nurses often worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week. When a major battle erupted, these shifts quickly turned into 24- or 36-hour shifts. While grueling, the work put in by Vietnam wartime nurses provided an incredibly valuable role to the military. Indeed, 98% of soldiers who were wounded but made it to the hospital survived.

Since the end of Vietnam and the start of conflicts in the Middle East, wartime nurses have truly transformed from one of the most under-recognized roles in the military to one of supreme importance. With the start of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively, wartime nurses saw increased service. Though these conflicts were much smaller in scale than previous wars, 3,000 Navy Nurses alone deployed to every battlefield command area worldwide.

It also saw the advancement of medical professionals in the military arena. Patricia Horoho, for example, became the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command and eventually, the 43rd Army surgeon general. In that capacity, she completely modernized warrior care, providing more resources for Army medical staff to treat soldiers. She is also recognized as a nursing hero for personally administering aid to over 75 people during the 9/11 at the Pentagon.

Since the Middle Eastern conflicts died down, wartime nurses have transitioned to more civilian roles. In 2020, numerous Navy nurses deployed to hospitals across the country to aid civilian medical workers in treating COVID-19 patients. Also during the pandemic, the U.S. Navy deployed the USNS Comfort hospital ship to New York City. There, 1,100 nurses and staff provided critical care to COVID patients. The USNS Mercy followed suit by anchoring along the Los Angeles coast to provide medical care for non-COVID patients. This supported overwhelmed hospitals in the wake of widespread sickness. (For other modern military inspirations, learn about 21st-century American war heroes.)