Early Life and Nursing Career
Helen A. McCullough was born on July 28, 1913, in Pratt, Kansas. McCullough graduated from high school in 1930 and went on to work for a local retail store. In 1938, she enrolled in the nursing program at the Baylor University College of Medicine. McCullough graduated in 1941 and began her career working as Assistant Head Nurse to the Night Supervisor at Baylor University Hospital.
Military Service
In 1942, McCullough entered the Army Nurse Corps at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, and was given the rank of Second Lieutenant. She then joined the 56th Evacuation Hospital, a Baylor University, Dallas-affiliated army medical unit that was sent to North Africa in 1943. McCullough’s unit also spent time in Italy, where they served with the 5th Army in Cassino and Anzio. During this time, McCullough was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant.
Army Nurse Corps
The Army Nurse Corps was formed in 1901. Prior to the attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941, there were less than 1,000 nurses serving in the United States’ Army Nurse Corps. In the months after the attack, given the nursing shortage in the military, the Army and Navy began actively recruiting women by providing incentives for joining the war effort, offering subsidized education among other benefits.
At this time, only women were allowed to join the Nurse Corps. It wasn’t until the 1950s that men were admitted. Early in the war, the Nurse Corps was made up of predominately white women, and it was not uncommon for qualified Black nurses to be turned away because of discriminatory practices in the U.S. Military. In 1943, the Nurse Training Act, also known as the Bolton Act, was passed which contained a non-discriminatory clause. Despite this, many Black women were still turned away from nursing programs, and ultimately only made up a very small percentage of the Army Nurse Corps during WWII.
By the end of the war, the numbers of the nurses serving in the Army Nurse Corps swelled to more than 59,000. Thanks to their tireless efforts, it is estimated that only approximately four percent of the men who were tended to on the field or evacuated, died from their wounds.
The 56th Evacuation Hospital
Evacuation Hospitals during World War II were mobile units stationed near battles that helped treat and evacuate the wounded. Their proximity to the front lines meant that doctors and nurses in these hospitals were often working under dangerous conditions. This was the case with the 56th Evacuation Hospital, which during 1944, was stationed in Anzio, Italy close to the fighting between the Germans and Allied forces.
On March 29, 1944, Helen McCullough was with the 56th on the beachhead of Anzio, when the hospital was hit by an air raid. Although the 56th had seen a few air raids to the surrounding area, on this occasion the hospital itself was hit directly. The attack resulted in McCullough sustaining an injury to her lung from a bomb fragment. However, she survived and was later awarded a Purple Heart for her service.
From 1942 to 1945, the 56th Evacuation Hospital treated over 73,000 individuals, including soldiers, prisoners of war, and civilians.
References
“The Army Nurse Corps in World War II.” U.S. Army Center of Military History, www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/300th-general-hospital/, Accessed November 7, 202.
Wagner, Ella. “Cadet Nurse Corps.” National Parks Service, www.nps.gov/articles/000/cadet-nurse-corps.htm, Accessed November 7, 2024.
Martin, Kali. “Opal Grapes, Army Nurse Corps.” The National WWII Museum, May 12, 2020,
Hernandez, Sylvia. “56th Evacuation Hospital: Laurence Dudgeon Collins.” The Texas Collection, September 29, 2021, https://blogs.baylor.edu/texascollection/2021/09/29/56th-evacuation-hospital-lawrence-dudgeon-collins/.
