1953- 1954 Photos First African American Nurse Regular Army + Tuskegee Airmen

[029238] (Americana - 20th Century - African-American Nursing - Nancy Leftenant-Colon). Photographic Slides of Nancy Leftenant-Colon, the First African-American In the Regular Army Nurse Corps + USAF - While Stationed in Korea: First Woman President of the Tuskegee Airmen. 1920 was born in Goose Creek, South Carolina and grew up on Long Island, NY. Graduated from New York's Lincoln School of Nursing in 1941. She then tried to sign up for the Armed Forces but was informed that the military was not accepting Black nurses. Nancy persevered and in January 1945, she volunteered and was accepted into the Army Nurse Corps as a reservist.

Nurses of Color were not permitted into the regular Army at that time. She was given the rank of Second Lieutenant and her first assignment was to Lowell General Hospital, Fort Devens, Massachusetts where she treated World War II wounded. She and other black nurses impressed the doctors due to their superior performance so they were promoted to First Lieutenant after only 11 months.

In 1946, Leftenant-Colon was assigned to the 332nd Station Medical Group, Lockbourne Army Air Base (now Rickenbacker Air Force Base), Ohio. She became the first black woman integrated into the regular Army Nurse Corps. She was assigned at Lockbourne Army Air Field when then President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981, abolishing segregation in the United States military. In 1948 she applied for and received Regular Army Nurse Corps status.

One year later, in 1949, the 332nd Fighter Group was deactivated at Lockbourne Air Force Base. Once the Tuskegee Airmen were disbanded, Leftenant-Colon switched services, joining the newly formed United States Air Force. She moved on to other assignments in support of the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War...

Credited with saving many lives... She had to wait five years for her certification as a Flight Nurse. Went on to an assignment as a Flight Nurse, evacuating French Legionnaires from the Dien Bien Pu Province, Vietnam. She was aboard the first medical evacuation flight into the defeated French outpost in Dien Bien Phu. Her final assignment was to McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey where Major Leftenant-Colon retired as Chief Nurse in 1965... (Please see the biography in the Tuskegee Airmen site for more on her career & awards) A little darkening to the mounts; images clear and in very good condition.