Pin with U.S. insignia worn by Lt. Louise Lomax as part of ANC uniform

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

During World War II, Louise Lomax joined the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1943 with the help of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses and trained as a psychiatric nurse at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. By September 1943 she was stationed at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, home of the Tuskegee Airmen. Lomax remained at Tuskegee during the war, where she was eventually promoted to 1st Lieutenant. After the war, Lt. Lomax went on to serve at Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio; Provident Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland; at VA hospitals in Downey, Illinois; and Perry Point, Maryland; and finally at the Army’s Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. Lt. Lomax retired from active duty in March 1949 and transferred to the Reserve Corps, where she served for four years. She was honorably discharged from the ANC in April 1953. A U.S. insignia pin worn by Lt. Louise Lomax as part of her Army Nurse Corps uniform. The pin is gold with a push pin backing, but missing the clasps. It is in the shape of the letters "U." and "S.".

Catalog date

1943-1953

Recorded places

Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America

Recorded subjects

African American; Medicine; Military; Nursing; Segregation; U.S. History, 1945-1953; Women; World War II

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