Happy Veterans Day - US Cadet Nurses are Honored and Reflections of a Combat Nurse Shared
Posted over 2 years ago by Meredith Roberts
State Sen. Osten urges recognition of U.S. Nurse Cadet Corps at Norwich Veterans Day Event
U.S. former Cadet Nurses were honored today for their service in the U.S. Nurse Cadet Corps in World War II when State Senator Osten encouraged the recognition of these nurses as veterans at the federal level. More than 90 veterans and their family members – and Boy Scout Troop 10 – joined the Norwich Area Veterans Council commemoration of Veterans Day....
President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the creation of the corps in 1943 to help alleviate the nursing shortage experienced before and during World War II and the federal government provided financial support and scholarships in exchange for a pledge of service to build its ranks.
By the end of the war, more than 124,000 nurses received training and more than 1,100 of the nation’s 1,200 nursing schools participated in the effort.
“They are the last group of people that have never been identified as a group of veterans that have served our country as nurses both overseas and in [this] country,” Osten said Thursday.
Under Osten’s leadership, recognition at the state level came in 2018 when her colleagues passed the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps bill which officially recognized June 15 as “Cadet Nurse Day” in Connecticut.
These cadets are older Americans who deserve recognition for their service.
The U.S. Cadet Nurse Corp language was included as an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The House passed the NDAA on Sept. 23 and it will now go to the Senate. NDAA is considered “must pass” legislation and the deadline to pass it is Dec. 31.
In Massachusetts for Veterans Day, city officials honored those (nurse cadets) who served in World War II but are still not considered veterans 80 years later, despite being directly responsible for so many other veterans coming home safely.
"In total, 124,000 young women answered our country's call for duty (during World War II) and enlisted in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps," said Poremba, a Salem resident and member of the Friends of U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps who led the charge for the monument. "They served in the military, the VA and in private and public hospitals. They saved our health care system from complete collapse in World War II. Yet, despite their service in World War II, during our nation's time in need, the Cadet Nurses are the only uniformed corps that hasn't been formally recognized as veterans."
Reflections of a Combat Nurse of Veterans Day
Maureen Dwyer shares how she was one of the very young soldiers who served during the Vietnam War as an Army combat nurse, caring for the wounded on a trauma ICU ward in an evacuation field hospital. "Our primary responsibilities and charges were the care of our own injured or sick soldiers and then, our allies, until they were stable enough to be transferred to a more advanced level of care in an Army hospital in Europe or Japan"....
I would like to say thank-you, and honor the veterans, including the brave nurse cadets who served to protect and heal us