Object Details
- Caption
- Louise Lomax joined the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) 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.
- After the war, Lt. Lomax went on to serve at Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio; Provident Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland; at VA hospitals in Downey, Illinois; and Perry Point, Maryland; and finally at the Army’s Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. Lt. Lomax retired from active duty in March 1949 and transferred to the Reserve Corps, where she served for four years. She was honorably discharged from the ANC in April 1953.
- Description
- Button from Army Nurse Corps uniform worn by Lt. Louise Lomax. The button is gold colored with the United States Army emblem at center. The emblem depicts an eagle with outstretched wings behind a shield. Embossed on the back of the button is [WATERBURY SCOVILL MFG. CO.].
- Data Source
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Manufactured by
- Waterbury Button Company, American, founded 1812
- Distributed by
- United States Army, American, founded 1775
- Owned by
- Louise Virginia Lomax, American, 1920 - 2011
- Date
- 1943-1953
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pia Marie Winters Jordan in memory of her mother, First Lieutenant Louise Virginia Lomax Winters, Army Nurse Corps; and her uncle, Sgt. Henry James Lomax, U.S. Army
- Medium
- metal
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 13/16 × 13/16 × 3/8 in. (2.1 × 2.1 × 1 cm)
- Type
- buttons (fasteners)
