Women Awarded Our Nation’s Highest Honors

The top three awards given by the United States Army are in precedence the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, and Distinguished Service Medal.

Army Nurse Corps

Miss Beatrice Mary MacDonald, Army Nurse Corps, was the first woman awarded the DSC for extraordinary heroism on August 17, 1917, while serving with a surgical team at a casualty clearing station in France.  She was seriously wounded in action by shrapnel from bombs in a night air raid by the Germans.

Miss Helen Grace McClelland, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSC for extraordinary heroism on August 17, 1917, while serving with a surgical team at a casualty clearing station in France.  When fellow nurse Beatrice Mary MacDonald was wounded by shrapnel from a bomb, she stopped the hemorrhage of her wounds while under attack during a night air raid.

Miss Jane Isabel Stambaugh, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSC for extraordinary heroism on March 21, 1918, while serving with a surgical team at a casualty clearing station in France.  She was seriously wounded in action on March 21, 1918, by shrapnel from bombs dropped in a German air raid.

Miss Jane Jeffery, American Red Cross, was awarded the DSC for extraordinary heroism on July 15, 1918, while serving with the American Red Cross in France.   She was wounded in action on July 15, 1918, by shrapnel from a bomb during a German air raid.

The DSM was awarded to 31 women during World War I.  Twenty-two were from the Army Nurse Corps, four from the American Red Cross, one Army contract telephone operator, one Army contract nurse, one from the Salvation Army of the United States and two from the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defense.

Army Nurse Corps

Miss Lillian Aubert, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM posthumous for service as the Assistant Superintendent, Army Nurse Corps in the office of the Army Surgeon General.  She died in service in October 1918.

Miss Cecilia Angelica Brennan, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Toul Hospital Center, France where medical care was provided to over 10,000 sick and wounded patients.

Miss Katharine Brown, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Nantes Hospital Center, France where nursing care was provided for more than 4,000 patients.

Miss Sophy Mary Burns, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Base Hospital No. 116 in France, and later, as chief nurse of Mobile Hospital No. 9 also in France.

Miss Reba G. Cameron, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of U.S. Army General Hospital at Plattsburg Barracks, New York, during World War I, and later as chief nurse of U.S. Army General Hospital at Hampton, Virginia.

Miss Edna Mary Becker Coughlin, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service with the Emergency Medical Team No. 142, in France.  She provided nursing care to the gravely wounded while under fire from shells and aerial bombs.

Mrs. Alice Hill Flash, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Mesves Hospital Center, France where over 20,000 patients were provided nursing care.

Miss Carrie L. Howard, Chief Nurse, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey.  She supervised the nursing departments of all the hospitals at the port of embarkation and the mobilization stations for nurses for overseas duty.

Miss Grace E. Leonard, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as Assistant Director of the Nursing Service, American Expeditionary Forces that supervised all nursing activities of the United States Army hospitals in England.

Miss Sayres Louise Milliken, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Base Hospital, Camp Sevier, South Carolina where nursing care was provided to thousands of patients and for service as the Assistant Superintendent. Army Nurse Corps, in the office of the Surgeon General.

Miss Jane G. Molloy, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Base Hospital, Camp Devens, Massachusetts especially during the influenza epidemic in October 1918.

Mrs. Edith Agnes Mury Kershaw, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Mobilization Station, Ellis Island, New York and subsequent service as Assistant Superintendent, Army Nurse Corps, in the office of the Surgeon General.

Miss Adele Snyder Poston, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Base Hospital No. 117 in France where nursing care was provided for psychiatric patients.

Miss Blanche Stevens Rulon, Army Nurse Corps, she was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Base Hospital No. 27, in France, during the WWI, and later as Assistant to the Director of the Nursing Service, American Expeditionary Forces, and for service in the Army Nurse Corps in the office of the Army Surgeon General. 

Miss Lillian J. Ryan, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Base Hospital, Camp Merritt, New Jersey, during WWI and for service during the demobilization period where nursing care was provided to thousands of tuberculous patients.

Miss Mary E. Sheehan, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Vichy Hospital Center, France.  She organized the nursing service of that center where nursing care was provided to over 11,000 sick and wounded patients.

Miss Nina Irene Shelton, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as Assistant to the Director of Nursing Service, American Expeditionary Forces in Paris, France that supervised over 10,000 members of the Army Nurse Corps serving with the American Expeditionary Forces.

Miss Catherine Glynn Sinnott, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Camp Hospital No. 28, France and later as chief nurse of the Nurses’ Concentration Camp at Savenay, France.

Miss Julia C. Stimson, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Base Hospital No. 21, chief nurse of the American Red Cross in France, and the Director of Nursing Service of the American Expeditionary Forces.  

Miss Ethel Edna Sweet Falconer, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chief nurse of Nurses Mobilization Station in New York City.  She contributed largely to the rapid and successful embarkation of over 10,000 nurses for overseas duty.

Miss Dora Elizabeth Thompson, Superintendent, Army Nurse Corps, U. S. Army, was awarded the DSM for service as the Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps during WWI.

Mrs. Lynette L. Vandervort, Army Nurse Corps, was awarded the DSM for service as chef nurse of Mars Hospital Center, France that provided nursing care for thousands of sick and wounded patients and later as chief nurse of the Nurses’ Embarkation Center at Vannes, France.

American Red Cross

Miss Mary Vail Andress, American Red Cross, was awarded the DSM for her work with the American Red Cross at Toul, France.

Mrs. Marie Bingham Rhodes Cash, American Red Cross, was awarded the DSM for service as chief of the nurses’ equipment bureau of the military department, American Red Cross, in Paris, France.

Miss Maude Cleveland, American Red Cross, was awarded the DSM for service as Chief of the Home Communication and Casualty Service of the Red Cross at Brest, France.

Miss Jane A. Delano, Director of the Department of Nursing of the American Red Cross, was awarded the DSM posthumous for service as the Director of the Department of Nursing of the American Red Cross that successfully provided 18,732 nurses for duty with the Army Nurse Corps during WWI.

Army Contractors

Miss Grace D. Banker, telephone operator for the Signal Corps, U.S. Army, was awarded the DSM for service as the chief operator in the Signal Corps exchange at General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces, and later in a similar capacity at 1st Army Headquarters.

Miss Annie W. Goodrich, Army Nurse, was awarded the DSM for organizing the Army Nurse Corps and for service as the first Superintendent, and for service as the first dean of the Army School of Nursing that enrolled and trained 1,800 student nurses made available to the Medical Department of the Army for service.

Organizations in the United States

Miss Evangeline C. Booth was awarded the DSM for service as Commander of the Salvation Army in the United States.

Miss Hannah Patterson was awarded the DSM for service with the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defense.

Doctor Anna Howard Shaw was awarded the DSM posthumous for service as the Chairman of the Women’s Committe of the Council of National Defense.