First Lieutenant bar insignia worn by Lt. Louise Lomax
National Museum of African American History and Culture

First Lieutenant bar insignia worn by Lt. Louise Lomax

Unidentified · ca. 1946

sterling silver
National Museum of African American History and Culture
CC0 — Public Domain
National Museum of African American History and Culture

During World War II, Louise Lomax joined the Army Nurse Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1943 with the help of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses and trained as a psychiatric nurse at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. By September 1943 she was stationed at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, home of the Tuskegee Airmen. Lomax remained at Tuskegee during the war, where she was eventually promoted to 1st Lieutenant. For her war service she was awarded a World War II Victory Medal and an American Campaign Medal.

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