Ruby Bradley
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Ruby Bradley
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Bradley as the Director, Nursing Activities, Brooke Army Medical Center
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Born | December 19, 1907 |
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. |
Buried | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/ |
United States Army |
Years of service | 1934–1963 |
Rank | Colonel |
Unit | Nurse Corps |
Battles/wars | World War II Korean War |
Awards | Legion of Merit (2) Bronze Star (2) Army Commendation Medal (2) Florence Nightingale Medal |
Colonel Ruby Bradley (December 19, 1907 – May 28, 2002) was one of the most decorated women in United States military history.[1] She was a native of Spencer, West Virginia but lived in Falls Church, Virginia, for over 50 years.
Military career
Bradley entered the United States Army Nurse Corps as a surgical nurse in 1934. She was serving at Camp John Hay in the Philippines when she was captured by Japanese forces three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
In 1943, she was moved to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila. It was there that she and several other imprisoned nurses earned the title "Angels in Fatigues" from fellow captives. For the next several months, she provided medical help to the prisoners and sought to feed starving children by shoving food into her pockets whenever she could, often going hungry herself. As she lost weight, she used the room in her uniform for smuggling surgical equipment into the prisoner-of-war camp. At the camp she assisted in 230 operations and helped to deliver 13 children.
When U.S. troops liberated the camp on February 3, 1945, Bradley weighed only 86 pounds (39 kg). She was then returned to the United States where she continued her career in the Army. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California in 1949.
Bradley served in the Korean War as Chief Nurse for the 171st Evacuation Hospital. In November 1950, during the Chinese counter-offensive, she refused to leave until she had loaded the sick and wounded onto a plane in Pyongyang while surrounded by 100,000 advancing Chinese soldiers. She was able to jump aboard the plane just as her ambulance exploded from an enemy shell. In 1951, she was named Chief Nurse for the Eighth Army, where she supervised over 500 Army nurses throughout Korea. [2]
She was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1958 and retired from the Army in 1963.
Later Life
She was the subject of a February 23, 2000 NBC Nightly News report by Tom Brokaw about the forgotten heroes of the military.
After her death in 2002 she was also the recipient of a memorial resolution, drafted by Congressman Joe Baca of California, regarding her exemplary service to this nation.
Awards
Her military record included 34 decorations, medals and other awards. These included:[3]
- Legion of Merit – two awards
- Bronze Star Medal – two awards
- Army Commendation Medal – two awards
- Prisoner of War Medal
- Presidential Unit Citation – two awards
- Meritorious Unit Commendation
- American Defense Service Medal with "Foreign Service" clasp
- American Campaign Medal
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two campaign stars
- World War II Victory Medal
- Army of Occupation Medal – with "Japan" clasp
- National Defense Service Medal – two awards
- Korean Service Medal – with three campaign stars
- Philippine Defense Medal (Republic of Philippines) – with one star
- Philippine Liberation Medal (Republic of Philippines) – with one star
- Philippine Independence Medal (Republic of Philippines)
- United Nations Service Medal
- Korean War Service Medal (Republic of Korea)
- Florence Nightingale Medal (International Red Cross)
Dates of rank
- 2nd Lieutenant (relative rank) – 16 October 1934[4]
- 1st Lieutenant (AUS) – 18 February 1945[4]
- Captain (AUS) – 27 October 1945[4]
- Captain (RA) – 19 August 1947[4] (to rank from 19 December 1942)
- Major (RA) – 15 May 1950[4]
- Lieutenant Colonel (RA) – 23 July 1952[4]
- Colonel (RA) – 4 March 1958[4]
References
External links
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- 1907 births
- 2002 deaths
- World War II prisoners of war held by Japan
- American military personnel of the Korean War
- United States Army officers
- Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
- Recipients of the Legion of Merit
- Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal
- American prisoners of war in World War II
- Female wartime nurses
- United States Army Nurse Corps officers
- Women in the United States Army
- American women in World War II
- World War II nurses
- Women in war in Asia
- Women in warfare post-1945