1LT, US Army, Lillian Koury Tennyson

Lillian Koury (Tennyson) was born in New Mexico to Syrian immigrants from Lebanon Salome and Michael Koury. She trained as a nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Santa Fe. After her nursing training, she joined the Army Nurse Corps on June 10, 1942, and trained at Fort Sam Houston, Texas in psychiatric field care. She worked on the front lines with the 94^th field hospital treating wounded soldiers at a field hospital in Saipan. In April 1945, she was promoted to first lieutenant. She was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal and was honorably discharged in December 1945.

After the war, she returned home to Santa Fe where she met her future husband, Leslie Tennyson, Sr. who was recovering from wounds sustained during the Bataan Death March at Bruns Army Hospital.