Ruth M. Gardiner

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Ruth M. Gardiner
File:Ruth Gardiner.jpg
Gardiner, c. 1943
Born (1914-08-08)August 8, 1914
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Naknek, Alaska, United States
Other names Ruth Gardiner
Occupation Nurse
File:Gardiner General Hospital.jpg
Gardiner General Hospital, c. 1944–45
File:Gardiner Hospital wounded soldier.jpg
Delivering wounded soldiers by train to Gardiner General Hospital in 1945

Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner (August 8, 1914 – July 26, 1943) was a nurse in the United States Army Nurse Corps, the first American nurse to lose her life in the line of duty during World War II. An Army hospital was named in her honor.

Early life

Gardiner was born on 8 August 1914 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She moved to the United States with her family when she was three years old. Gardiner attended Sacred Heart High School in Indianapolis.[1] Gardiner had training in nursing at the White Haven, Pennsylvania, sanatorium and graduated from there in 1934.[2]

Career

Gardiner entered the army nursing service in January 1943.[1] Her first assignment was at the 349th Air Evacuation Group, Bowman Field, Kentucky. She served in the Alaskan Theater of Operations with Flight A of the 805th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron and rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant.[3][4] Gardiner's plane crashed while on a medical evacuation mission near Naknek, Alaska on 27 July 1943 and she was killed while transporting patients.[5][6][7][8] She was the first American nurse killed in World War II while on military active duty.[9][10] Gardiner was one of a group of six nurses in Alaska during the Aleutian Islands Campaign of World War II during April 1942 to July 1943 that assisted in medical evacuations by plane. During this time the group of nurses covered 3,500,000 air miles and evacuated over 2,500 sick and wounded without injury or death to any of their patients.[11]

Hospital

The Army General Hospital, a former Chicago hotel,[12] was named in honor of Gardiner who was the first Army Nurse Corps' nurse killed while serving in World War II.[7][13] Major General H. S. Aurand selected her to be honored this way.[8] It was the first Army hospital named for a woman or nurse.[11][14] Gardiner was killed in July 1943 and the hospital was officially dedicated in July 1944.[15] The Army General Hospital of Chicago became known as the Ruth M. Gardiner General Hospital.[13][16] The hospital was one of the medical installations in the Sixth Service Command.[17]

The 1,250 bed hospital received a portrait of Gardiner at its official dedication on July 9, 1944. The portrait was done by Chicago artist Edmund Giesbert. There was a crowd estimated at 3,000 that looked on at this ceremony of the delivery of the portrait. The Gardiner hospital was already in operation at the time with a quarter of its patients from overseas.[18]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Stiehm 1996, p. 104.
  6. ↑ US Government, p. 187.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Feller & Moore 1996, pp. 17.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Sarnecky 1999, p. 262.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Society 1944, p. 12.

Sources

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External links

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