“They saved lives at home so others could save lives abroad”

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Seventy-five years ago, in 1943, the United States was experiencing a critical shortage of nurses. With 1 out of 4 nurses having volunteered to serve in the armed services, the health care system was on the verge of collapse in the homeland.

Mark Clark Hall on the campus of The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina is named in General Clark's honor. From 1949 to August 17, 2010, the Mark Clark Bridge in Washington connected Camano Island with the adjacent town of Stanwood on the mainland. It was then superseded by the Camano Gateway Bridge, the Mark Clark Bridge being demolished. CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) - A Citadel cadet is facing a DUI charge after a deadly collision involving a pedestrian, Charleston Police say. According to officials, around 10:20 p.m. On Sunday, an adult pedestrian was struck by a vehicle in front of 685 King Street.

Although the value of nurses had been identified in the care of soldiers in the World War I and by the highest rate of civilian mortality caused by the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 where a lack of trained nurses could be directly attributed to mortality, the number of nurses being produced could not keep up with the demands of the country.

In order to meet urgent needs, Representative Frances Payne Bolton of Ohio, a champion of nursing education, introduced legislation for the Nurse Training Act of 1943. She had seen first-hand how nurses made a positive impact on the health of the community while accompanying a public health nurse caring for people who lived in city tenements.

On July 1, 1943, The Bolton Act as it was called, established the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps under the U.S. Public Health Service and military. Founding Director of Nursing Education, Lucile Petry, RN was the first woman to hold such a high office as head of a division in the USPHS, reporting directly to the US Surgeon General Thomas Parran. Upon the insistence of the then first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the Cadet Nurse Corps was amended to prevent racial discrimination allowing for 3,240 minorities to join the service as nurses in an era of segregation.

Once meeting accreditation and other standards, 86% or 1,125 of the 1,300 nursing schools in the country were accepted for participation in the nation’s first accelerated nursing education programs. Massachusetts had 58 schools of nursing accepted as cadet nurse training programs. Most offered 24-30 months of curriculum followed by 6 months of what might be called a nurse internship as a Senior Cadet.

Because of a very successful recruiting campaign, 180,000 young women between 17 and 35 with at least a high school diploma and having good mental and physical health answered the call to duty and voluntarily enrolled in the US Cadet Nurse Corps avoiding any need for a nursing draft. They were issued grey and red trimmed military uniforms and beret and entered intensive nursing training, pledging their “service in essential nursing for the duration of the war.”

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By the end of the war in 1945, the US Cadet Nurse Corps was providing 80 percent of the nursing care in U.S. hospitals. The Corps remained active until 1948 with a total of about 125,000 women completing their training and caring for wounded soldiers on their return to military hospitals. After their discharge from service, some went on to enlist in the Army or Navy. Others who went into civilian service provided nursing care in their communities for an average of 28 years.

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Although the US Cadet Nurse Corps operated under the U.S. Public Health Service and military, it is the only uniformed service that was not given veteran status on discharge. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to rectify this oversight but all have failed.

Last year, HR 1168 the United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (D-Rockland/Westchester NY) and Representative Leonard Lance (R-NY) to grant veteran status to the US Cadet Nurse Corps. So far, there are no members of Massachusetts delegation to the House of Representatives who have signed on in support of this bill.

Sadly, the continued delay in passing this bill is a dishonor to the service of the members, of the corps as few are still alive and those who are, are well into their 90s. The cost of providing veterans benefits to these women would be minimal by any government standards compared to those provided to other veterans over their lifespan.

It is time to honor these young women who enlisted in a uniformed all female nursing corps in wartime, who trained and worked under military standards and who are credited with saving the United States Health Care System from collapse for their service to our country.
Let’s make the 75th Anniversary of the US Cadet Nurse Corps a call out for the passage of the HR 1168 the United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act.
US Cadet Nurse Corps March
“We’re the Cadets,
We’re the Corps,
Doing our part to help the nation win the war,
Doing the job we’re chosen for,
United States Cadet Nurse Corps”
Dr. Poremba can be reached at bporemba@salemstate.edu
In the Next Issue of the Massachusetts Report on Nursing: Meet US Cadet Nurse Mary Maione of Hamilton, MA
The author welcomes hearing from anyone with personal stories about members of the US Cadet Nurse Corps.
Sources:
Szecsy, Elsie (2017). The US Cadet Nurse Corps Guidebook: A History of a Program and the Legacy of its People. Kindle Direct Publishing.
Short History of Military Nursing: U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, Ebling Library. University of Wisconsin, Madison. http://researchguides.ebling.library.wisc.edu/c.php?g=293228&p=1953290
The United States Cadet Nurse Corps [1943-1948] and other Federal nurse training programs. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1950