1LT, US Army, Dorothea LeCain Foster

Dorothea LeCain Foster completed Cambridge City Hospital Nursing School in April of 1942 and worked at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis in the summer of 1942. ¹ She joined the U.S. Army Nursing Corps and in November of 1942 was assigned to the 32nd Station Hospital in Tlemcen, Algeria, and Caserta, Italy. ² In January of 1943, the Washington D.C. Evening Star reported that she and other nurses were en route to Africa and were treating soldiers for seasickness. ³ The same article reported that LeCain Foster was considered the “glamour girl” of the nurses and was well-liked and respected for her nursing skills. ² LeCain Foster was decorated with two Battle Stars for Combat Nursing. ¹ After overseas duty, she was assigned to Bruns General Hospital in Santa Fe from 1943 to 1945. ¹ LeCain Foster’s assignment was listed as Ward Nurse in 1943, and a general duty nurse on the 1944 roster. ³   

LeCain Foster was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to John and Mary McGrath LeCain ⁴. As a child, she was involved in the Girl Scouts. ⁵ After the war, she met Lt. Col. Robert Turnbull Foster at Bruns General, and they married in July of 1946 and had four children, Patricia Marie, Robert Turnbull II, John Frederick, and Susan Dorothea. ^{6, 7} LeCain Foster moved to Albuquerque in 1948. ¹ She had an avid interest in contract bridge, being a member of the Duke City Bridge Center. ^{1, 8} She attended many out-of-town tournaments and in 1984 became a life master of the American Contract Bridge League. ¹ In 1982, she attended the reunion of the 32nd Station Hospital in St. Peterburg, Florida. ⁹