1LT US Army, Volma Vernet Leonard Washington

Volma Vernet Leonard Washington was recruited into the United States Army Nurse Corps from the Red Cross. She served as the Surgical Head Nurse and Supervisor at Fort Huachuca, Arizona Station Hospital I and II, Camp Beale, California Station Hospital, and San Luis Obispo, California Station Hospital. ^{1, 2} She taught Italian, German, and Japanese prisoners of war about communicable disease prevention at Ogden, Utah Station Hospital. ¹ Black nurses were initially barred from the Army Nurse Corps and when they were permitted to serve during World War II, they were often charged with treating prisoners of war rather than American soldiers. ^{3, 4} Leonard recalled, “In Tucson, Arizona, the prisoners of war were allowed to eat in the best restaurants, where black nurses were not allowed to eat.” ¹ She was awarded a presidential citation for her services during the Cold War working in military hospitals overseas. Her picture is displayed at the Women in Military Service Memorial in Washington, D.C. ^{1, 5}

Volma Vernet Leonard (Washington) was born in Smithfield, Texas to Mattie Lonnie Curry and Robert Leonard. ⁶ She graduated from Dunbar High School in Temple, Texas, and attended Prairie View A&M College and Los Angeles City College. ¹ Leonard graduated from Los Angeles County General Hospital School of Nursing, held a degree in Mortuary Science from the Los Angeles College of Mortuary Science, and completed the Physician’s Assistant course at UCLA. ¹ She worked at the Los Angeles County General Hospital as a registered nurse. ¹ She was a life member of Luperto Garcia Chapter 20 of the Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9921, Eastern Star Chapter 57, American Red Cross, Beta Pi Sigma Sorority, American Vets, and served on Mayor Yorty’s City Planning Commission in the San Fernando Valley. ¹