COX-SARA

AN  ORIGINAL  “SACRED  TWENTY”  NURSE

Sara Matilda Cox was born near Grand Lake, New Brunswick, Canada, on March 15, 1863 and was one of the “Sacred Twenty,” the first twenty women admitted to the Navy Nurse Corps when it was established in 1908.  Historical records report that Cox was previously a member of the Army Nurse Corps and served in the Philippines during the Spanish American War.  Cox had initially trained as a nurse in Boston and upon enlisting in the Navy all members of the “Sacred Twenty” were assigned to the Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C., for additional training and nursing duties.  Here the group initially was not welcome as most of the Navy personnel felt they were invading a man’s domain and were not considered much more than uniformed civilians.

In March 1909, the nurses were disbursed to other Navy hospitals and Nurse Cox was transferred to the Naval Hospital, Norfolk, Virginia, where she was promoted to Chief Nurse in 1911.  She was next transferred in 1914 to the Naval Hospital, New York, where she remained until returned in 1916 to the Naval Hospital, Washington, D.C., where she served as the superintendent of nurses during World War One.  In 1920, after residing in the U.S. for more than 30-years, she applied for naturalization through a process established to expedite the path to citizenship for veterans.  In 1921 she was transferred to the Naval Hospital, San Diego, California.  She retired from the Navy Nurse Corps in July 1928.

Sara Matilda Cox died on March 30, 1943, at the age of 80 and has been buried at Arlington National Cemetery where her grave marker carries the inscription:  CHIEF NURSE  -  US NAVY  -  SPANISH AMERICAN WAR  -  WORLD WAR I.  The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., has her nursing uniform cape in its collection.

                   

 

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)