The Hospital Dietitian Corps and the Physical Therapist Corps were formed in 1942 as part of the Medical Corps of the Army, which already included doctors and nurses. Like nurses, dietitians and physical therapists often followed armies to the front, serving in base hospitals and with the troops. Seeing the permanent need for this type of personnel in the army, in November 1945 the Women's Medical Service Corps was developed, which included dietitians, occupational therapists and physical therapists.
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Dietitian and kitchen staff at Deschon Hospital in Butler, Pa, c. 1944. (Jean Comins Mitchell Collection, #WV-0052) |
Physical therapists make up part of the 250th General Hospital staff aboard the USS George Washington in January 1945. |
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A group of student dietitians during their internships at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., in 1943. (Jean Comins Mitchell Collection, #WV-0052) |
Initially nurses were sent straight to the wards, but by the end of 1943 a two-week training course had been created for them. This Navy nurse is wearing the standard blue World War II nurse's cape. (Edna Andrews Weston Collection, #WV-0091) |
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