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Silver Star awarded posthumously to WWI nurse

The Army will present the Silver Star on Tuesday to the daughter of a World War I Army nurse who treated wounded soldiers while under artillery fire in 1918.

Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, acting surgeon general of the Army and chief of the Army Nurse Corps, will present the posthumous award for Linnie Leckrone at a 1:15 p.m. ceremony at The Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, Va., according to an Army press release.

Leckrone, who died in 1989, was authorized the Citation Star for her gallantry while attending to the wounded during an artillery bombardment at Hospital Number 127, Chateau-Thierry, France, July 19, 1918, the release states.

In 1932, the Silver Star Medal, the nation’s third highest valor award, was created to replace the Citation Star.

After the war, Leckrone married Ralph Bolles and they raised four daughters, one of which was Mary Jane Bolles Reed, who will receive the prestigious award for her mother, according to the release.

Leckrone’s contributions have directly led to the evolution of today’s Army Nurse Corps, the release states.

In March 1917, the Army had only 403 nurses, but more than 20,000 more would volunteer during the war.