least 200 nurses took part in the Anzio campaign, caring for more than 33,000 patients behind enemy lines. (7) Enlisted nurses acclimated quickly to difficult and dangerous conditions with a minimum of complaints, and were essential members of the field armies. (8) The presence of nurses at the front improved morale because soldiers realized that they would receive skilled care in the event they were wounded. (9) Thanks largely to the efforts of these nurses, fewer than 4 percent of the American soldiers who received medical care in the field or underwent evacuation died from wounds or disease. (10) After the war, broad public health missions required that enlisted nurses supervise communicable disease measures as former enemy countries were reorganized. In Hiroshima, these officers cared for victims of the atomic bombs. In Munich, they prevented mass epidemic in refugee camps. Enlisted nurses even provided prenatal, infant, and mental health care in other former-enemy territories. (11) Nurses received 1,619 medals, citations, and commendations during the war, reflecting the courage and dedication of all who served. Sixteen medals were awarded posthumously to nurses who died as a result of enemy fire, including 6 nurses who died at Anzio, 6 who died when the Hospital Ship Comfort was attacked by a Japanese suicide plane, and 4 flight nurses. Thirteen other flight nurses died in weather-related crashes while on duty. (12) In 1944, Congress passed a bill that granted Army and Navy Nurses actual military rank and benefits, approved for the duration of the war plus 6 months. (13) In 1947, Congress passed legislation establishing a permanent Army and Navy Nursing Corps and gave members permanent officer status with equal pay and the same benefits as those given to male officers. (14) In 1948, all military branches were integrated and female doctors were finally admitted to the Army Medical Corps. (15) Although African-American Nurses were fully qualified and prepared to serve as nurses at the onset of World War II,