As World War II progressed, the need for qualified nurses rose sharply to care for the large numbers of wounded troops. A "Cadet Nurse Corps" program was implemented in July 1943 to provide a large number of student nurses with on-the-job training, while freeing up more experienced nurses to serve overseas.
Nursing schools across the country were invited to participate in the program, which was administered by the United States Public Health Service. By the end of the war, 1,125 of the 1,300 nursing schools had joined the Cadet Nurse Corps program.
This photograph shows a group of 3600 student nurses that were inducted into the Cadet Corps at Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota, in 1943.
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
Date: 1943
Identifer: location R2.2 p148
