2nd Lieutenant Carmen Durnier (born 1924 in San Juan, Puerto Rico), was one of the first Puerto Rican women to become a U.S. Army officer.
Carmen was born and raised in the capital city of Puerto Rico. She received her primary and secondary education in that city. After graduating from high school, she enrolled in the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in San Juan where she became a certified nurse in 1944.
Since the United States was involved in World War II and needed as much men and women power it could get. The Army ordered Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment to full war strength and drafted many Puerto Ricans whose knowledge of English was minimal. Therefore, the Army recognized the need for bilingual nurses to help the soldiers that returned with wounds. In 1944, the Army sent three WAC (Women's Army Corps) recruiters to the island to organize a unit of 200 WAC's. Over 1,500 women responded to the call and applied. Carmen applied to become an Army nurse and was one of thirteen women to be selected.
On August 21, 1944, she was sworn in as a 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to the 161st General Hospital in San Juan, where she continued to receive further training. Upon completing her advanced training, she was sent to Camp Tortugero where she also assisted as an interpreter whenever needed.
In 1945, Carmen was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and reassigned to the 359th Station Hospital of Ft. Read, Trinidad, British West Indies. There she attended wounded soldiers who had returned from Normandy, France.
After the war, Carmen like so many other women in the military, returned back to civilian life. She married and continued her nursing career in Puerto Rico until she retired in 1975.
See also
Last updated: 10-16-2005 15:01:14
