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Fremont resident, Colonel Coralee Steele, was in charge of the World War II field hospital in France that followed General Patton, landing in Normandy the day after D-day.

• Coralee I. Steele was born on February 13, 1903, the 13^th of 14 children of David Matthew Steele and Elizabeth Blevins Steele. The family lived at 608 Blewett St. (now N. 35^th St.) in Fremont. The house would have been near the site where the brick Thompson Building now stands, formerly housing the Triangle Tavern and now home to 9 Million Unmarked Bills. Coralee attended B. F. Day School. (Steele family archives and history, courtesy of Karen Hedelund)

• In 1920, the family moved with their younger children to Alsea, Oregon. After graduating from Multnomah Training School for Nurses, Ms. Steele returned to Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington with a B. S. in Nursing Education in 1933 with post-graduate work in Hospital Administration and Ward Teaching. (Steele family archives and history, courtesy of Karen Hedelund; Seattle Sunday Times, June 11, 1933, Vol. 56, No. 162)

• After graduation, she worked in Seattle in the 1930s and early 1940s, as the Night Superintendent and Operating Room Supervisor at King County Hospital, and later, the Superintendent of Maynard Hospital in before entering active duty in the Army Nurse Corps on September 10, 1942. (article from the history of the 50^th General Hospital, courtesy of Thomas Hutchinson, President, 50^th General Hospital Association; Seattle Daily Times, July 17, 1942, Vol. 65, No. 198)

• Ms. Steele served as the chief nurse of the 50^th General Hospital throughout her active duty. The 50^th General Hospital was a mobile hospital and had been established in Seattle for service in World War I. In 1942, it was reactivated with doctors and nurses from hospitals throughout Washington. They trained for over a year at Camp Carson, Colorado, before traveling, in December 1943, by train to the Boston Port of Embarkation and by convoy on the troop ship Edmund A. Alexander to England. (50^th General Hospital, Unit History, WW2 US Medical Research Centre, www.med-dept.com; Seattle Daily Times, July 17, 1942, Vol. 65, No. 198)

• The 50^th General Hospital unit landed in Liverpool and traveled by train to Scotland to operate the military hospital in Cowglen, a suburb of Glasgow. The unit was assigned to the 3^rd Army, under the command of General George S. Patton. For six months, they treated American soldiers who had fallen ill while on Army transports from the US to the port of Greenock, 26 miles from Cowglen. (50^th General Hospital, Unit History, WW2 US Medical Research Centre, www.med-dept.com.)

• After D-Day, June 6, 1944, the 50^th relocated to France in support of the Allied invasion forces. They landed at Utah Beach and most of the unit marched inland about 7 miles to Carentan. The nurses traveled in trucks through Cherbourg, then joined the rest in Carentan. Initially, teams of surgeons, nurses, and enlisted men were sent to various field and evacuation hospitals near the front. Construction of the tent hospital was underway in a cow-pasture in Carentan by the end of July 1944. By mid-August, the 50^th was operating a 400-bed hospital which grew to 1,000 beds by the end of the month. (50^th General Hospital, Unit History, WW2 US Medical Research Centre, www.med-dept.com)

• In November 1944, the 50^th General Hospital moved forward into northeastern France and established the hospital in an old French Cavalry post in Commercy.  The facility was a considerable up-grade as the buildings were stone with walls four-feet thick; however, considerable work was required to put in heating, lighting and plumbing systems. By the end of 1944, the 50^th General Hospital had a total roster of over 600 officers and enlisted personnel. Captain Steele was the highest ranking nurse among the hospital’s 81 nurses. (50^th General Hospital, Unit History, WW2 US Medical Research Centre, www.med-dept.com)

• The Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhine were fought from December 1944 through the spring of 1945. The large number of casualties arriving at the 50^th General Hospital required increasing the capacity to over 2,300 beds. (50^th General Hospital, Unit History, WW2 US Medical Research Centre, www.med-dept.)

• After the war ended on May 8, 1945, the work of the 50^th fluctuated. Initially, the number of new patients slowed but, as other hospital units closed, patients were transferred to the 50^th. During this time, some doctors and nurses in the 50^th were redeployed to the Pacific. Eventually, the number of patients declined so that by the end of August, they were operating only two wards. (50^th General Hospital, Unit History, WW2 US Medical Research Centre, www.med-dept.com)

• “Late in June 1945, fifty medical installations in France and Germany were instructed to send one nurse to Paris to attend a special two-week educational course beginning July 1^st, … in French history, art, architecture, and literature to foster mutual understanding between our two countries. We saw the Venus de Milo and 85 famous paintings the second day after they were put back in the Louvre.” From an article written by Major Steele for the American Journal of Nursing, October 1945. (The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 45, No. 10 (Oct 1945)

• On October 27, 1945, the Seattle Times reported that Maj. Steele had landed in New York City from Marseille, France aboard the transport George Washington along with many other members of the 50^th General Hospital. (Seattle Daily Times, October 27, 1945, Vol. 68, No. 300)

• As a member of the 50^th General Hospital, Maj. Steele received a Presidential Unit Citation for Meritorious Service ribbon and three campaign ribbons for participation in the Normandy Campaign, Northern France Campaign, and the Rhineland Campaign. (Thomas Hutchinson, President, 50^th General Hospital Association; “A Brief Unit History”, 50^th General Hospital, Program from 50^th General Hospital Inactivation Dinner, September 9, 1995, courtesy of Loretta Green, Providence Archives)

• In July 1947, Ms. Steele enrolled in the Army Nurse Corps Reserve. She was able to retain her rank of Major and served as chief nurse of the 310^th Hospital Center. She retired from the reserves as a Lt. Colonel. (Seattle Times, July 17, 1947)

• In 1958, Ms. Steele was a passenger in her brother-in-law’s car when an accident occurred. She was severely injured and her sister died. Although Ms. Steele’s right side and hand were paralyzed, she was able to continue her career, working as superintendant of nurses in hospitals in California, Oregon, and Washington. (Steele family archives and history, courtesy of Karen Hedelund)

• She was working in Albany, OR, when she suffered a hemorrhaging stroke in 1974. She recovered but required care in a nursing facility. The Veterans Administration did not have such accommodations for women veterans so she was moved to a private facility in the Chehalis/Centralia area where two of her nieces lived. She passed away on August 19, 1989 and is buried at the Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, OR. (Steele family archives and history, courtesy of Karen Hedelund)