Since the earliest wars, caregivers have been on the frontlines, providing crucial medical assistance to injured soldiers. While they were not recognized by the titles we know today, they have always made valuable contributions during times of conflict. This Memorial Day, we take a moment to remember and commemorate all of the nurses and allied health professionals who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the call to duty.
Some of you know a medical professional who was deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Hundreds perished, including nurses such as Captain Jennifer Moreno, who was killed in action in October 2013 by an improvised explosive device. Their sacrifices are remembered on Memorial Day.
The tradition of sacrifice is not new. The original wartime nurses were often the wives, mothers, and sisters of the men at war. Despite having little to no formal medical training or experience, their importance was quickly identified and acknowledged. In 1775, General George Washington signed a resolution that allotted a $2 payment per month for every nurse, doubling it just a year later.
After the Civil War, the New England Hospital for Women and Children started the first formal nurse training program in the U.S., graduating the first trained nurse, Linda Richards, in 1873 and the first African American trained nurse, Mary Eliza Mahoney, in 1879.
With each war, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, the ranks of medical professionals and their duties and expertise would expand. Today, the heroism of nurses is immortalized in Section 21, known as the “Nurses Section,” at Arlington National Cemetery. Also in this section is the 11-foot white marble statue known as “the Spirit of Nursing.” The monument commemorates the “devoted service to country and humanity by Army, Navy, and Air Force Nurses.”
Learn more about the history and role of medical professionals in times of war: