Women's Military Nurse Graduation Panoramic Photograph - Fort Lee, Virginia 1945

[Women in Military] Large panoramic photograph of predominantly women students in uniform at Camp Lee, Virginia Quarter Master school. Graduating nursing class of 1945. Sepia toned large silver gelatin photograph. 10" x 25 1/2". Captioned "Army Nurses Basic Course, No. 2. The QM School, Fort Lee, VA., 10 April, 1945, Third Platoon" at the bottom center of the photograph. This large photograph shows 52 white female students and 6 male students not listed as part of the graduating class plus 5 male officers standing on both sides of the students. The graduating class of women appear in uniform with ties, caps, and badges in three rows. Each woman carries (truncated) a bright smile on her face as she takes a step further in becoming a military nurse. Taken during the final months of World War II, the Quarter Master school had expanded its operation from Schuykill, New York to Camp Lee, Virginia. Since the Civil War nursing has been an essential avenue for women to take part in the US military. This photograph was taken before the end of World War II, when for the first time every branch of the US military had service roles for women, with 57,000 serving in the US Army Nurse Corps. Large photograph in very good condition. (Inventory #: 20938)