Ruth M. Gardiner

Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner (May 20, 1914 – July 27, 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.

Ruth M. Gardiner
Gardiner, c. 1943
Born(1914-05-20)May 20, 1914
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
DiedJuly 27, 1943(1943-07-27) (aged 29)
Naknek, Alaska, United States
Other namesRuth Gardiner
OccupationNurse
Gardiner General Hospital, c. 1944–45
Delivering wounded soldiers by train to Gardiner General Hospital in 1945

Early life

Gardiner was born on 20 May 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. "Ruth Gardiner, Air Force Nurse, Dies in Service". Indianapolis Star, page 9. Indianapolis, Indiana. 8 August 1943.
  2. "White Haven Nurse Honored". The Plain Speaker (p. 17). Hazleton, Pennsylvania. November 18, 1943 – via Newspapers.com .
  3. Annabel, Russell (April 17, 1944). "Pretty Nurses act as escort for Wounded". Tucson Daily Citizen (p. 7). Tucson, Arizona – via Newspapers.com .
  4. Staff writer - Barger J. (2015). "Flight nurse firsts: the first flight nurse killed in action". Aviat Space Environ Med. 56: 376–7. 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 en route for the purpose of evacuating patients. Gardiner General Hospital in Chicago was named in her honor posthumously.
  5. Stiehm 1996, p. 104.
  6. US Government, p. 187.
  7. "Will Name Hospital after Hoosier Nurse". Rushville Republican (p. 2). Rushville, Indiana. 9 October 1943 – via Newspapers.com . 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 war.
  8. "Will Carry Nurse's Name". The Pantagraph (p. 1). Bloomington, Illinois. 9 October 1943 – via Newspapers.com . 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
  9. "Here are some of America's heroines of the year". The Lincoln Star (p. 36). Lincoln, Nebraska. January 30, 1944 – via Newspapers.com .
  10. Feller & Moore 1996, pp. 17.
  11. "Gardiner Hall - "Behavioral Health Building"". U.S. Army Medical Department. U.S. Army. 20 December 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2015. On 9 July 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.
  12. "Honor Army Nurse". Steuben Republican. Angolia, Indiana. 27 October 1943. A Chicago hotel, turned into an Army hospital, has been named after Lt. Ruth M. Gardiner, the first U.S. 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 9 July 1944.
  13. "Honor Nurse". The Nashua Reporter (p. 12). Nashua, Iowa. January 5, 1944 – via Newspapers.com .
  14. The Army Nurse; Volume 1, Number 2, Washington, D. C.: Surgeon General's Office, February 1944, p. 2, 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.
  15. "Women also part of War". Indiana Gazette (p. 2). Indiana, Pennsylvania. May 27, 1963 – via Newspapers.com .
  16. Sarnecky 1999, p. 262.
  17. Morgan, Hugh J. (June 2, 2009). "U.S. Army, Activities of Medical Consultants - Service Commands". Office of Medical History. U.S. Army Medical Department. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  18. Society 1944, p. 12.

Sources
  • Feller, Carolyn M.; Moore, Constance J. (1996). Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps. U.S. Army Center of Military History. Gardiner General Hospital was dedicated 9 July 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 27 July 1943, while on an air evacuation mission.
  • Sarnecky, Mary T. (4 October 1999). A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 262. 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.
  • Stiehm, Judith (1996). It's Our Military, Too!: Women and the U. S. Military. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-0147-2. The first Army nurse killed in the war, 2nd Lt. Ruth M. Gardiner, died in an air evacuation plane crash in July 1943; a hospital was named after her in Chicago.
  • Society, Chicago Medical (1944). The Bulletin of the Chicago Medical Society. The Society.
  • US Government. A Contemporary History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-16-086913-6. In World War II, Gardiner General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, memorialized the contributions of Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner, an army nurse who perished in a plane crash in Alaska.
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