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As I cared for this young marine, I realized that I was not just a nurse, but a caregiver for real-life American heroes.” ...

Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who battled racial discrimination in a barrier-breaking career as a military nurse, serving as the first African American in the regular Army Nurse Corps and later caring ...

After years of being barred from a segregated military, she became the first Black nurse in the regular U.S. armed forces. She was later an Air Force officer. By Clay Risen Nancy Leftenant-Colon ...

The first Black woman to join the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after the military was desegregated in the 1940s has died. She was 104. Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who retired as a major and died earlier this ...

It was just happening.” After the military was desegregated in 1948, Leftenant-Colon initially joined the all-Black 332nd Fighter Group, as a nurse. She then joined the U.S. Air Force after the ...