HEWITT-ELIZABETH

AN  ORIGINAL  “SACRED  TWENTY”  NURSE

The Navy Nurse Corps was established on May 13, 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt.  The initial requirements for enlistment were graduation from an accredited nursing school, U.S. citizenship, between the ages of 22 and 44, and unmarried.  By September 1908, twenty women had been selected for enrollment in the Navy Nurse Corps and Elizabeth M. Hewitt was one of these original women who have since been known as the “Sacred Twenty.”  The group was assigned to the Naval Hospital, Washington, D.C., for training and to perform 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.  By mid-1909, the women were being reassigned to other Naval Hospitals

Historical records are scarce concerning Nurse Hewitt but do reveal she remained in the Navy until discharged in 1933, having reached the rank of Chief Nurse.  The locations she served while on active duty are not specifically known but records indicate she may have served in Navy Hospitals in New York; Newport, Rhode, Island; and Mare Island, California, following her assignment in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth M. Hewitt died at Mystic, Connecticut, in April 1936 at the age of 64.  She has been buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia where her grave marker carries the inscription:  CHIEF NURSE  -  US NAVY.

                              

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