When Beatrice MacDonald and Helen McClelland earned the Distinguished Service Cross on August 17, 1917, they became not only the first two women to receive the award, but the FIRST Americans to earn the newly authorized DSC in World War I.
Sponsored by:
Beatrice
Mary
MacDonald
September 27, 1881
–
September 4, 1969
Cemetery:
Long Island National Cemetery
Awards Received
-
Distinguished Service Cross
-
Distinguished Service Cross
Service:
United States ArmyRank:
Reserve NurseDivision:
British Casualty Clearing Station No. 61Action Date:
August 17, 1917
War Department, General Orders No. 17 (1926)The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Reserve Nurse Beatrice Mary MacDonald, United States Army Nurse Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with Nurse Corps, American Expeditionary Forces (Attached), while on duty with the surgical team at the British Casualty Clearing Station No. 61, British Area, 17 August 1917. During a German night air raid Nurse MacDonald continued at her post of duty, caring for the sick and wounded until seriously wounded by a German bomb, thereby losing one eye.