United States Navy Nurse Corps - Prominent Members

Prominent Members

• Chief Nurse Esther Voorhees Hasson, first Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps
• Chief Nurse Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, second Superintendent, first living female recipient of Navy Cross, first woman in the service to have fighting ship carry her name
• Edna E. Place, Marie L. Hidell, and Lilian M. Murphy; first Nurse Corps officers award - posthumously - the Navy Cross fighting the Influenza Pandemic - World War II.
• Chief Nurse Marion Olds, Leona Jackson, Lorraine Christiansen, Virginia Fogerty, and Doris Yetter, first Navy Nurse Corps Officers taken as POWs - World War I
• Captain Sue S. Dauser, first woman in the Navy to be promoted to the rank of Captain O-6 - World War II.
• Captain Ann Agnes Bernatitus, first American recipient of the Legion of Merit and member of the "Angels of Bataan" - World War II.
• Rear Admiral Alene B. Duerk, first woman in the Navy to be promoted to flag rank.
• LT Ruth Mason, LT Frances Crumpton, LT Barbara Wooster and LT(jg) Ann Darby Reynolds; the first Navy Nurse Corps Officers to receive a Purple Heart Medal - Vietnam.
• LT Barney R. Barendse, first Navy Nurse Corps Officer to command a surgical company during combat operations - Operation Desert Storm). Awarded Bronze Star Medal.
• CAPT Albert Shimkus, first Navy Nurse Corps Officer to command a hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20).
• CDR Lenora C.Langlais, first African American Nurse Corps Officer to receive a Purple Heart Medal - Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• CDR Kim Lebel, first Navy Nurse Corps Officer to receive a Purple Heart Medal - Operation Enduring Freedom.