Army Nurse Corps History Home > Army Nurse Corps Uniforms and Insignia > Army Nurse Corps Uniforms: A Retrospective Exhibit

On May 25, 1918, during the height of World War I, the ArmySchool of Nursing was authorized by the Secretary of War as an alternative toutilizing nurses' aides in Army hospitals.  Courses of instruction openedat several Army hospitals in July 1918.  Annie W. Goodrich became the firstDean of the Army School of Nursing.  Although the Adjutant Generalauthorized a military uniform and an insignia consisting of a bronze lampsuperimposed on the caduceus, the students in the Army School of Nursingretained civilian status.  In December 1918, there were 1,578 students inthe program.  By 1923, the school had been consolidated at Walter ReedGeneral Hospital.  It was discontinued by the Secretary of War on 12 August1931 as an economy measure.  A total of 937 young women completed thecourse in nursing and received the diploma of the school.  Among the manyillustrious graduates were Mary G. Phillips and Rudy F. Bryant, who later becameChiefs of the Army Nurse Corps, and Virginia Henderson, the renown NurseEducator.  The Lamp and the Caduceus, written by MarletteConde, a graduate of the school, was published by the Army School of NursingAlumnae Association in 1975 and describes the beginning, progress, and closing ofthe Army School of Nursing.