World War I Army Nurse Corps

When the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, there were 403 nurses on active duty in the Army Nurse Corps. Superintendent Dora E. Thompson, the fourth Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps, increased the number of nurses to 21,480 by November 11, 1918, with more than 10,000 overseas in France, Belgium, England, Italy, Serbia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.  Members of the Army Nurse Corps were stationed with the Army occupation forces in Germany until 1923 when the US Army returned to the U.S.

General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), awarded the Distinguished Service Medal to Julia C. Stimson, on June 5, 1919, in Tours, France.