Dora E. Thompson ( 1876June 23 , 1954 ) was the fourth Army Nurse Corps Superintendent , and the first selected from within the Corps , having served as an Army nurse for 12 years prior to her appointment . Thompson was born in 1876 , at Cold Spring , New York , to parents Arthur Thompson , and Dora Thompson . In 1876 , she graduated from New York Hospital Training School for Nurses . When she first joined the Army Nurse Corps , she was assigned to the Army General Hospital at Presidio of San Francisco , where she oversaw the hospital through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . She was also the first superintendent to meet global war problems involving the procurement and assignment of nurses . As a result of her service during World War I , in which the ANC grew from less than 400 to 21,480 nurses serving in the United States , Europe , and the Philippines , she received the Distinguished Service Medal . After the war , she took a leave of absence and upon her return in December 1919 resigned as Superintendent . At her request , she was appointed Assistant Superintendent with duties in the Philippines . Thompson later became chief nurse of the Letterman General Hospital . When Army nurses were given relative rank in 1920 , she became a captain .
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Dora E. Thompson