Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who was the first Black woman in Army Nurse Corps, has died
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The first Black woman to join the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after the military was desegrated in the 1940s has died. She was 104. Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who retired as a major and died earlier this month at a New York nursing home, was remembered by relatives and friends for quietly breaking down racial barriers during her long military career.
Known as “Lefty," she was one of six siblings who served in the military, including a brother who was a famed Tuskegee Airmen pilot. He was killed in a mid-air collision over Austria in 1945, according to a biography of Leftenant-Colon on the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. website. His remains have never been found.
“She was just an awesome person,” her nephew Chris Leftenant told The Associated Press. “She never created waves when she was doing all this first this, first that. She never made a big thing of it. It was just happening.”. After the military was desegregated in 1948, Leftenant-Colon initially joined the all-Black 332nd Fighter Group, as a nurse. She then joined the U.S. Air Force after the 332nd Fighter Group was disbanded, supporting the Korean and Vietnam wars.
She set up hospital wards in Japan, helped evacuate French Legionnaires from Vietnam and was on the the first medical evacuation flight into Dien Bien Phu, where more than 70 years ago the French colonial army was defeated by Vietnamese troops. She retired as a chief nurse in 1965, according to the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. website.
