The U.S. Army Nurse Corps sent 10,245 female nurses to the European theater in World War I; on Armistice Day in 1918, 21,480 army nurses were in service around the world. The majority of the Army nurses signed up through the American Red Cross, which ensured that they were registered, examined, and prepared for service. They served in France, Belgium, England, Italy, Serbia, Russia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines with the U.S. Expeditionary Forces, the British Expeditionary Forces, and the French Forces. One hundred and two nurses died overseas, most from influenza. Three nurses received the Distinguished Service Cross; many others were decorated by the U.S., French, and British militaries.
The Army Nurse Corps organized for World War I with the help of the Red Cross, which provided funding to aid civilian hospitals to organize and prepare nurses for deployment. The first nurses went to France in April 1917 as part of six base hospitals that aided the British Expeditionary Forces. The nurses arrived before U.S. troops. By August 1918, there were fifty base hospitals in Europe and around thirty more were organized. In addition, special hospitals were organized and deployed to treat orthopedic, head, fracture, and psychiatric cases. Because of their service in the war, female nurse anesthetists gained respect for women in their profession. Despite their service in the Army, however, nurses did not hold rank during the war and were only given relative rank after the armistice.
When the United States entered the war, only 403 Army nurses were on active duty. A shortage of nurses existed throughout the war and increased with the influenza epidemic of 1918. To alleviate the shortage, the Army expanded the age requirement from 25 to 35 years old to 21 to 45 years old and allowed married women and citizens of allied nations to serve in the Corps. However, the Army prohibited 1,000 trained, qualified, and willing African American nurses from serving overseas because of regulations requiring segregated living quarters.
Nurses served in hospitals located both close to and far from the battle. Many nurses, believing that it was the height of nursing care to work where they were most needed, aspired to work as close to the battle as possible. The nearest hospitals to the battle were dressing stations, which were located as close as 1.7 miles (2.74 kilometers) from the battle. The dressing stations provided immediate first aid to soldiers who were then classified and put on ambulances to be sent to field hospitals. The field hospitals had 216 beds, were 2 to 4 miles (3.22 to 6.44 kilometers) removed from the line of battle, and were where the wounded were stabilized before transportation to an evacuation hospital. Evacuation hospitals were larger than field hospitals, with 432 beds, and nurses at these hospitals performed a variety of functions involved with emergencies and the first surgeries for the most seriously wounded.
The Army wanted to minimize the chance that nurses would be killed or captured. Therefore, the Army’s Table of Organization did not permit nurses to serve at dressing stations, field hospitals, or evacuation hospitals because they were so close to the battle line and moved with the tide of battle. The demands of war, however, resulted in nurses serving in these hospitals despite formal regulations. Mobile hospitals also moved with the troops and treated the most seriously wounded as close as possible to the front lines, including those with head, chest, and abdominal wounds, and those needing treatment for shock. Nurses also worked in teams of three on hospital trains that transported up to 1,500 patients from evacuation hospitals to base hospitals. With 500 beds, base hospitals were the largest of all the hospitals and were located in the rear areas. These hospitals provided treatment for patients arriving from other hospitals and were where casualties recovered before being sent back into the field or to the United States. In the United States, nurses in the corps served in post, cantonment, and general military hospitals.
U.S. Army Nurse Corps in World War I
"Our first assignment was to duty at the base hospital at Mar-Surler, few miles from Never . . . This base hospital was built in a farmer’s field, I think. At any rate, there were no solid roads or paths. We waded in the mud to our ankles between the buildings, & shoveled out what we brought in on our rubber boots. The buildings were knock-down shacks & the one I worked in had no windows, also the one we slept in. We were just taking in the overflow from the better equipped wards & helping until the arrival of a base hospital unit that was expected to arrive at any time. At the time we arrived there was a big drive going on at the front & patients were being sent in by the train load."
—May Lanham (later Austin),
Army nurse stationed in France during World War I.
Collection #969 (WWI, ANC #169 IV 969.D1d),
May (Lanham) Austin Collection, Gift of Gloria A. Karow,
Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Inc.,
Archives, Arlington, VA.
"This morning four teams were chosen for casualty clearing stations and are to be ready at any moments notice. In each team there are one surgeon, one anesthetist, one nurse and one orderly. The C.C.S’s are a little behind the lines . . . They stay about two months, come back and are relieved by other teams. It is very exciting and however anxious everyone is to go, they are just as anxious to get back again to civilization. One really finds out a little of what actually is up there and although I’m perfectly willing to go wherever sent I am just as well satisfied here. I see enough of the awful realities. The trip up gives a very realistic picture as they pass through the war zone, thoroughly destroyed villages and of course are in constant danger of bombs etc. C’est la guerre. So far we have been quite lucky. Last summer one clearing station was bombed. Dr. Brewer’s tent was blown up while he was doing an operation fortunately for him. Miss MacDonald one of our nurses was wounded losing an eye but has another and works as fine as ever. I think that is a good record considering the numbers we have sent up."
—Letter from Ethel Roxana Arthur (Presbyterian U.S.A) Hospital, B.E.F.,
to friends, February 20, 1918,
Collection #147, Ethel Roxana Arthur Collection, Gift of Diana Andersen,
Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Inc.,
Archives, Arlington, VA.
"Was up to Verdun and St. Michiel since Nov. 11—stood in No Man’s Land within a week after the signing of the Armistice. This place is the limits now—mud everywhere, and it is some mud, believe me—Nothing appeals to me like a cozy corner in the U.S.A.—tho I am surely glad I could come over."
—Letter from Anna Grace McCrady, Chief Nurse, AEF,
to her sister, Winifred, December 9, 1918,
from Base Hospital #117, WWI, ANC, #1600,
Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Inc.,
Archives, Arlington, VA.
Nurses at each of these hospitals treated a variety of war wounds, as well as wounds caused by the "new" weapon, poison gas. Beginning in the spring of 1918, nurses also treated thousands of victims of the influenza epidemic. They worked fourteen- to eighteen-hour shifts week after week, and often worked for days on end when necessary. They endured the cold in inadequate clothing, with meager living and sanitary conditions, and often became sick themselves. In addition, the nurses lived in dangerous conditions, as hospitals in all areas were shelled and bombed; nurses had to protect both themselves and their patients.
