In a story published on Veterans Day 2025, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Montanan, Darrell Ehrlick, wrote about how Elizabeth Sandelius (Benbow) finally was recognized for her heroism more than a century after her actions during World War I.  Originally found at this link, https://dailymontanan.com/2025/11/11/montanas-forgotten-silver-star-wwi-combat-nurse-finally-gets-her-due-106-years-later/ , the text of the story is copied below (images accompanying the story are not copied).

Montana’s forgotten ‘Silver Star’: WWI combat nurse finally gets her due … 106 years later; Family didn’t know about Cokedale nurse’s heroism
By: Darrell Ehrlick  - November 11, 2025

This Veterans Day will be a little different than the others for Elizabeth Dorothy “Sandy” Sandelius.

Even though she died decades ago, after living what her family describes as a full life mostly spent in California, the Montana-native and World War I hero — and her family — can now say: She has a Silver Star, a medal awarded to those who served heroically during combat.

As one of many Montana women who answered the military’s call for service during World War I as a trained nurse with the Red Cross, Sandelius shipped overseas, volunteered for combat duty, and served on front-line hospitals, nearly losing her life several times. She returned to America with little fanfare and got married to a man whom she secretly wed before deploying, both never knowing if they’d see each other again.

They did. And they raised a family. But even that family, who knew her simply as “Granny,” had no idea that among the records of battlefield heroics, she stood out. According to her relatives, she never recounted her experiences of the field hospital or the wounded.

It was a decade-long journey by one of Montana’s best contemporary historians that culminated in a small ceremony in Los Angeles last year, where Sandelius was awarded the honor, even though many nurses during the “Great War” never got the same recognition as their male military counterparts.  

In fact, in what may be a cruel historic irony: Sandelius’ name may have been more remembered had she been killed in action rather than just serving in it. The names of the fallen dead were remembered, often chiseled in the stone of memorials and written in the books of military history.

However, Sandelius’ story follows a common trajectory: Small town girl who becomes a nurse, only to have the country enter into a great global war. Edward Saunders, who has done extensive history of Montana women in the military, especially during the first half of the twentieth century in his book, “Knapsacks and Roses,” said when America entered into the war, there were more nurses in Montana than the military, which only had about 400 (at the time, there were 500 in the Treasure State). The Department of War would send out a call for more than 14,000.

Sandelius answered that call, not once, but three times. She volunteered to be a nurse for the military; she volunteered to go to overseas; and then she volunteered to go to the front lines. None of those things were required.

But it would be her service on the battlefield, in a field hospital that wasn’t much more than a tent, during some of the most intense fighting where she caught the notice of the commanders.

In July and August 1918, Sandelius was assigned to the U.S. 28th Division, which was helping the French infantry stave off German attacks, including those with lethal gas. During the Oise-Ainse offensive and the Second Battle of the Marne, the 28th sustained more than 14,000 casualties.

Sandelius was assigned to Field Hospital 112, near Cohan, about 60 miles from Paris. Saunders recounts that the tented field hospital would receive more than 5,000 wounded and perform more than 200 surgeries.

But on Aug. 10, the Germans stepped up the attacks, and the field hospital was caught.

Even after military commanders had ordered the nurses to withdraw to three miles, Sandelius refused to leave the side of the injured and sick.

“For eight consecutive days and nights, she stayed with her patients, enduring enemy artillery and aerial bombardment in dire and deadly conditions,” Saunders wrote.

Her life could have ended in a multitude of ways during those harrowing hours, but two coincidences should have killed her. Both times, a German warplane — military aviation was still in its infancy — dropped a bomb near the tented hospital, only to have them both fail to explode. One landed approximately 15 feet from her.

While she would survive on a combination of luck and steely determination, Sandelius and other nurses would stay on long after the war’s end on Nov. 11, 1918, helping to care for the sick and wounded.

She returned to the United States in 1919, alive and with little other fanfare. Few even know that she and her husband, Stillwater County soldier C.B. Benbow, had fallen madly in love just prior to entering into the war. Not knowing where they’d end up, or if either would make it out of the worldwide conflict alive, they secretly wed two weeks before she left.

The marriage had to be done secretly, or she’d likely not be accepted for the war effort. On all of her war records, including her dog tags, she remained Elizabeth D. Sandelius, No. 12660, of the American Expeditionary Forces.

In reality, she was Elizabeth D. Benbow.

After the war, she returned to her husband, C.B., who was trained as an early aviation pilot, but never left the states during the war. Sandelius died in May 1983, never knowing her battlefield legacy would be remembered. She was buried in Los Angeles’ National Cemetery.

It was Saunders, while researching his book about Montana women and their involvement in World War I, who discovered Sandelius’ story.

“From the centennial of World War One about 10 years go, I first met her in the dusty archives of the Montana state library among many records of Montana women who went to war in 1917,” Saunders said. “As I looked at Elizabeth’s service record in war-torn France, I couldn’t help but think, ‘This gal was in some bad stuff.’ I wanted to find more about her. My walk with her began.”

His inspiration would lead him to research more of her life, and he believed that U.S. military officials had overlooked awards that she more than deserved.

It took nearly a decade of research and a writing campaign. Saunders was able to track down the grandchildren of Sandelius, themselves old enough to be grandparents. They were shocked to learn about “Granny’s” history, and proud that their grandmother, whom they remembered warmly, was also a hero.

They offered letters of support in Saunders’ campaign to earn her recognition, including sending Sandelius’ dog-tags and photos. And they were shocked when the U.S. Army accepted their case for Sandelius receiving the Silver Star.

Saunders, a retired Army colonel who served in combat himself, remembers calling the family when the letter from the U.S. Army arrived.

“We both had tears in our eyes,” Saunders said.

Sandelius was among the first four American servicewomen in the American military history, all WWI Army Nurse Corps nurse, to have been awarded the Silver Star medal for valor in combat.

“The greatest tragedy that can befall an American serviceman — or woman — is not that they may be killed in action, that’s the greatest sacrifice. The greatest tragedy is they may be forgotten: Forgotten in life and forgotten in death by the very same nation they — and I — swore and oath to defend, even at the cost of our lives,” Saunders said. “In the words of the ancient Greeks, Elizabeth helped make gentle the horror which mankind often inflicts upon itself.”

Benbow was born in Cokedale, Montana, to Swedish immigrants. She joined the Red Cross in Helena and was head nurse at the Columbus hospital and clinic prior to America’s entrance into World War I. In 1917, she joined the Army Nurse Corps and volunteered for duty on the Western Front. In August 1918, Elizabeth was serving with a field hospital near Cohan, France. She refused to be evacuated when the hospital was bombarded and endured eight consecutive days and nights of shelling, never ceasing to care for the wounded. Sandelius survived the war and was honorably discharged in July 1919. For her heroism in France, she is now among the first four American servicewomen to receive the Silver Star Medal (posthumously.) 

Montana WWI Army Nurse to Receive (Posthumous) Silver Star Medal for Valor in Combat.

In ceremony at Bob Hope Memorial Chapel, Los Angeles National Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, September 24, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Lieutenant (nurse) Elizabeth Dorothy Sandelius, US Army Nurse Corps, WWI, will receive, posthumously, the Silver Star Medal for heroism under fire in WWI France. In history she will be among the first four American servicewomen, all WWI Army Nurse Corps nurses, to receive the Silver Star Medal.

Born April 1893 in Cokedale, MT, to Swedish immigrants, Sandelius became a Red Cross nurse in Helena, MT. She was head nurse at the Columbus, MT, hospital and clinic. In October 1917 she entered the Army Nurse Corps and volunteered for war duty in France.

In August 1918, Sandelius was with the tented Field Hospital 112, US 28th Infantry Division, on the front battle lines near Cohan, France. German forces bombarded the village and field hospital. The nurses were ordered to withdraw. Sandelius refused the order to leave her patients. For eight consecutive days and nights Sandelius courageously endured enemy aerial and ground bombardment to care for desperately wounded American and allied soldiers.

Sandelius survived the war and was honorably discharged in July 1919. In Montana she married Ceborn Benbow. They moved to Los Angeles, California. She died in May 1983 in Los Angeles, and is memorialized in Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward E. Saunders, US Army (retired), Billings, MT, learned of Sandelius and her gallantry under fire. In coordination with her descendants, Saunders researched and prepared the recommendation to the US Army for the Silver Star Medal, posthumously, for Sandelius. In May 2025 the Army agreed.

At Bob Hope Memorial Chapel, Los Angeles National Cemetery, Saunders will present the Silver Star Medal for Lieutenant (nurse) Elizabeth D. Sandelius, Army Nurse Corps, WWI, to the Benbow family on behalf of the US Army and a grateful nation.

Time will not dim the glory of their deeds. General of the Armies John J. Pershing.

ELIZABETH D BENBOW

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