Cadet Nurse Carrie

Today, March 7, 2021, would be my mom’s 95^th birthday.  She died 20 years ago but I treasure my memories of her and the stories she shared.  This blog post recounts her path to becoming a registered nurse. 

She graduated from Millers Creek High School in Wilkes County, N.C., in April 1943.[1]  Her high school transcript says[2] “Excellent character, dependable, industrious, high morals and good home environment.”

Carrie’s high school graduation, 1943

 Limited options for girls included marriage, teaching, secretarial work, and nursing.  Carrie decided to become a registered nurse but had to figure out how to pay for her education.  She stayed home for a year and took the bus to a job at Wilkes Hosiery Mill.[3]  She saved her money but it was not enough for nursing school.  She learned that the U.S. government paid for nurse training in return for military service.

 “Public health administrators as well as the American public believed that the increasing demands of the U.S. armed forces for nurses were responsible for a shortage of civilian nurses. Responding to these concerns in June 1943, Congress passed the Bolton Act, which set up the Cadet Nurse Corps program.

… The U.S. government subsidized the education of nursing students who promised that following graduation they would engage in essential military or civilian nursing for the duration of the war…

… The Cadet Nurse Corps training program was extremely successful and enjoyed enthusiastic public support. By 1948 when the program was discontinued, more than 150,000 nurse graduates testified to its value.”[4]

Carrie applied for the Cadet Nurse Corps program and attended Grace Hospital School of Nursing[5] in Morganton, N.C., only 50 miles from Millers Creek.  Her ID card is shown below.[6]  It took three years to become a Registered Nurse.

Carrie mentioned in newspaper in 1944

 

Cadet Nurse Corps card

 

Her high school chemistry teacher had been drafted, so Carrie had to take high school chemistry while attending nursing school. Fortunately, the high school was just across the street!

 

Carrie, Cadet Nurse in training, 1944 - 1947

Carrie heard horrific stories of nurses who served in the war, which she had committed to do when her three years of school ended.  One nurse had been captured by the Japanese, raped, and then they cut out her tongue so she couldn’t tell about it.  She came back home pregnant.  Carrie was terrified to serve overseas, but fortunately the war ended.  The government paid for her final year of school even though the war was over – there was still a nursing shortage.

Carrie graduated from nursing school in May 1947.  She is third from the left.[7]

 Carrie’s silver cross was engraved with her initials: CMS, Grace Hospital, Morganton, N.C., 1947.  A graduate of the school said “Everybody recognized Grace Hospital graduates as the only nursing school who wore the silver cross.”  [8]

Carrie's silver cross from Grace Hospital School of Nursing

After graduation, Carrie remained in Morganton working as an emergency room nurse at Grace Hospital from September 1947 through December 1948.[9] 

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[1] "Seniors at Millers Creek Are Listed," Wilkes Journal-Patriot, 19 Apr 1943, online archives (http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/ : accessed 5 Nov 2017), p. 4, col. 4.  N.C. had only 11 grades at that time.

[2] “North Carolina Uniform High School Transcript Blank,” Carrie Mae Snyder, 5/22/44, signed by R. V. Day, Principal sending credits; private collection of the author.  Dated a year after graduation because Carrie worked for a year.

[3] Per Carrie's resume, she worked at Wilkes Hosiery Mill from April 1943 to September 1944 when she started nursing school.  She had also worked at Rose's 5c-10c-25c Store in North Wilkesboro.

[4] The Army Nurse Corps, digitized booklet (https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/72-14/72-14.HTM : accessed 5 May 2018), p. 7.

[5] "Here and There," Wilkes Journal-Patriot, 21 Sep 1944, online archives (http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/ : accessed 17 Nov 2017), p. 7, col. 1. 

[6] Card for student nurse Carrie Mae Snyder, May 1944, serial number 74122; U.S., World War II Cadet Nursing Corps Card Files, 1942-1948; Records of the Public Health Service, 1794–1990, Record Group 90, National Archives and Records Administration; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry (http://www.Ancestry.com : accessed 30 May 2012).

[7] "NURSES TO GRADUATE AT MORGANTON FRIDAY," Greensboro News & Record, 15 May 1947, p. 2, col. 3; digital images, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 25 May 2014), newspaper archives.  Photograph in private collection of the author.

[8]    Tracy Farnham, "Grace Hospital School of Nursing celebrates 100-year anniversary with weekend events," The News Herald (Morganton, N.C.), posted 15 Jun 2010,  https://www.morganton.com/news/grace-hospital-school-of-nursing-celebrates--year-anniversary-with/article_ae9b05e6-b1ce-5d47-9b7d-8f083b90ad5a.html : accessed 9 Jul 2018.

[9] Carrie’s hand-written resume, approximately 1990.