United States Navy Nurse Corps
The United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established by Congress in 1908; however, unofficially, women had been working as nurses aboard Navy ships and in Navy hospitals for nearly 100 years. The Corps was all-female until 1965.
Group photograph of the first twenty Navy nurses, appointed in 1908
USS Red Rover by F. Muller
Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee
Nurse Hazel Herringshaw and two Marine Corps patients, 1918
A hospital corpsman (HM) or corpsman is an enlisted medical specialist of the United States Navy, who may also serve in a U.S. Marine Corps unit. The corresponding rating within the United States Coast Guard is health services technician (HS).
Rating insignia
A corpsman aboard an aircraft carrier in 1999
Hospital steward's service coat, U.S. Army Hospital Corps, 1898
A hospital corpsman draws blood from a patient as part of his duties as an independent duty corpsman