Colonel Ruby Bradley was born on December 19, 1907, near Spencer, West Virginia. She began her career as a teacher, graduating from college in 1926 and teaching in one-room schools in Roane County. She later trained as a nurse and In 1934, joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. She worked as a surgical nurse at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C. In 1940, she was sent to the Philippines, where she was serving when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and U.S. bases in the Pacific during World War II, including the Philippines. Only 3 weeks later, Japanese forces invaded the area, Bradley was captured and became a prisoner of war.
Bradley spent more than three years in Japanese prison camps, including the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila. Conditions were extremely harsh, with little food, medicine, or supplies. Despite this, Bradley continued to care for sick and wounded prisoners. She helped perform over 230 surgeries and assisted in the delivery of 13 babies. Because of her dedication, she and the other nurses were known as the “Angels in Fatigues.” When American forces liberated the camp in February 1945, Bradley was severely underweight at 86 pounds but still serving others.
 After being liberated in February 1945, Bradley continued her Army career. During the Korean War, she served as a frontline combat nurse in evacuation hospitals, often working close to active fighting. In November 1950, Chinese forces launched a massive counterattack that threatened U.S. positions in North Korea. As American troops were ordered to evacuate, Bradley refused to leave her hospital until every wounded soldier had been safely evacuated.

In 1958, Ruby Bradley was promoted to Colonel, making her one of the first Army nurses to hold that rank. Colonel Bradley received 34 medals and citations for her bravery and service, including two Bronze Star Medals, two Legion of Merit awards, the Florence Nightingale Medal, two Presidential Emblems, the United Nations Service Medal and the Red Cross’ highest international honor. She retired from the Army in 1963 after nearly 30 years of service but continued working as a civilian nurse for many years. She passed away in 2002 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Ruby Bradley is remembered as one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history and as a nurse who showed courage, compassion, leadership and dedication in the most difficult conditions. 


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Remembering Ruby Bradley
Ruby Bradley was born on December 19, 1907, in Spencer, West Virginia, and died on May 28, 2002. She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of her service. She joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1934, one year after becoming a nurse. Her service started with being commissioned as a surgical nurse in Washington, D.C. for five years.  However, she continued her service at a higher level, demonstrating her dedication to the Army. Bradley was serving when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in the Philippines, where she was captured three weeks later, on December 29, 1941, becoming a prisoner of war (POW).  For those three years as a POW, She assisted in over 230 major surgeries and delivered 13 babies.  The other POWs named Bradley and the other nurses ‘Angles in Fatigues,’ for their wholehearted commitment to helping the patients.  However, Bradley’s compassion and selflessness made her stand out amongst the POW nurses. With tight food rations, she became skilled at smuggling food and often went hungry to give food to others, mainly children. When the cam was liberated in 1945, Bradley had gone from 110 to 84 pounds.  When nurses returned, they were given promotions and awarded the Purple Heart.  The work of these POW nurses as well as the Army Nurse Corps greatly contributed to the exceptionally low post-injury mortality rate. In total, less than four percent of American soldiers who received medical care or were evacuated died.  After WW II, Bradley worked in several hospitals and earned her bachelor's degree in nursing education from the University of California. Then, in 1950, a month after the start of the Korean War, she went overseas to serve as a combat nurse in evacuation hospitals and later became a chief nurse.  In one instance during the war, Bradley refused to leave an evacuating plane until she had helped the wounded patients, jumping into the plane while her ambulance exploded.  She was the first woman to receive a national or international guard salute, and the third woman in Army history to become a colonel. For the entirety of her service, Bradley received 34 medals. Despite these accomplishments, she told a reporter that she didn’t see herself as anyone special and said, “I want to be remembered as just an Army nurse.”   Ruby Bradley served with resilience and altruism and should be remembered for her years of dedication. 


RUBY GRACE BRADLEY

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