Ruth M. Gardiner

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Ruth Gardiner, around 1943
Gardiner General Hospital, about 1944–45
Wounded soldiers are taken by train to Gardiner General Hospital in 1945

Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner (born August 8, 1914 in Calgary , Alberta , Canada ; † July 26, 1943 in Naknek , Alaska , United States ) was a nurse in the United States Army Nurse Corps and the first American nurse to exercise lost her life during her service in World War II . A United States Army military hospital was named after her in her memory .

Early life

Gardiner was on August 8, 1914 Calgary in the Canadian province of Alberta born. She moved to the United States with her family when she was three years old. Gardiner attended Sacred Heart High School in Indianapolis .

Military career

Gardiner entered the army nursing service in January 1943. Her first service was with the 349th Air Evacuation Group at Bowman Field in Kentucky . She served in Alaska and was assigned to Flight A of the 805th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron. The aircraft with Gardiner and patients on board crashed on July 26, 1943 during a MedEvac mission near Naknek , Alaska . Gardiner was among the dead. She was the first American nurse to be killed while on active duty during World War II. Gardiner was part of a group of six nurses who served in Alaska during the Battle of the Aleutians from April 1942 to July 1943. During this time, the group of nurses covered 3,500,000 air miles and evacuated more than 2,500 sick and injured soldiers without any patient casualties.

The Army General Hospital, a former Chicago hotel , was named in honor of Gardiner. Major General Henry Aurand had chosen Gardiner to be honored in this way. It was the first time that a US Army hospital was named after a woman or nurse. The hospital Ruth M. Gardiner General Hospital was inaugurated on 9 July 1944th The hospital was one of the Sixth Service Command's medical facilities .

In 1963, a nurses' home at Fort Wainwright , Alaska, Gardiner Hall, was also named after Gardiner.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Ruth Gardiner, Air Force Nurse, Dies in Service . In: Indianapolis Star, page 9 , Aug. 8, 1943. 
  2. ^ J. Barger: Flight nurse firsts: the first flight nurse killed in action. In: Aviation, space, and environmental medicine. Volume 56, Number 4, April 1985, pp. 376-377, PMID 3888170 . "The first flight nurse killed in action was Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner. A graduate of the first organized course for flight nurses of the 349th Air Evacuation Group, Bowman Field, KY, Lieutenant Gardiner served in the Alaskan Theater of Operations with Flight A of the 805th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron. Lieutenant Gardiner was killed in an aircraft accident on July 27, 1943, while enroute for the purpose of evacuating patients. Gardiner General Hospital in Chicago was named in her honor posthumously. "
  3. ^ A b Will Name Hospital after Hoosier Nurse . In: Rushville Republican, page 2 , October 9, 1943. "It will bear the name of Second Lieutenant Ruth Gardiner who was the first member of the Army Nurse Corps serving with the armed forces to be killed on duty in this." 
  4. ↑ a b Will Carry Nurse's Name . In: The Pantagraph, page 1 , October 9, 1943. "the name of Second Lieutenant Ruth Gardiner who was the first member of the Army Nurse Corps serving with the armed forces to be killed on duty in the war" 
  5. ↑ Feller / Moore, 1996, page 17
  6. ^ A b c Gardiner Hall - "Behavioral Health Building" . US Army. December 20, 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2015: “On July 9, 1944, Gardiner General Hospital, Chicago, Illinois was dedicated to Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner. Though no longer in use, this was the first Army hospital named for a woman or nurse. "
  7. ↑ Honor Army Nurse . In: Steuben Republican , October 27, 1943. “A Chicago hotel, turned into an Army hospital, has been named after Lt. Ruth M. Gardiner, the first US Army nurse to be killed in action in this war. She died in a plane crash at Nankek, Alaska, while serving as an evacuation nurse on July 9, 1944. " 
  8. ^ The Army Nurse; Volume 1, Number 2 . Surgeon General's Office. February 1944. Retrieved January 6, 2016: “HOSPITAL NAMED FOR ARMY NURSE. For the first time in the history of the United States Army's Medical Department, a hospital has been named for a woman - an Army nurse. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and is named in honor of 2d Lieut. Ruth M. Gardiner, who was the first flight nurse to lose her life in the performance of duty in the service of her country. "
  9. ↑ Honor Nurse . In: Nashua Reporter (p. 12) , January 5, 1944. 
  10. ↑ Sarnecky, 1999, p. 262
  11. ^ Hugh J. Morgan: US Army, Activities of Medical Consultants - Service Commands . US Army Medical Department. June 2, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2016.

swell

  • Carolyn M. Feller, Constance J. Moore: Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps . US Army Center of Military History, 1996: "Gardiner General Hospital was dedicated July 9, 1944 to the memory of 2nd Lt. Ruth M. Gardiner, the first Army nurse to be killed in a theater of operations during World War II. Lieutenant Gardiner, a flight nurse, was killed in a plane crash near Naknek, Alaska, on July 27, 1943, while on an air evacuation mission."
  • Mary T. Sarnecky: A History of the US Army Nurse Corps . University of Pennsylvania Press, October 4, 1999, ISBN 0-8122-3502-9 : “The first flight nurse to lose her life in the line of duty was Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner who perished in a plane crash at Naknek, Alaska. Her sacrifice was memorialized when an Army Hospital in Chicago, the former Chicago Beach Hotel, was named Gardiner General Hospital. "
personal data
SURNAME Gardiner, Ruth M.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION american nurse
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Calgary , Alberta , Canada
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1943
Place of death Naknek , Alaska , United States