Lieutenant Commander Laura Mae Cobb, A Sailor's Story
Lieutenant Commander Laura Mae Cobb, A Sailor's Story
Lieutenant Commander Laura Mae Cobb was born on May 11, 1892, in Atchison, Kansas, and was raised in Mulvane, Kansas. She graduated from Mulvane High School in 1910 and entered nurse’s training at Wesley Hospital in Wichita, graduating in 1918 at the height of World War I.
She entered active service in the United States Navy on July 5, 1918, responding to the nation’s need for trained nurses during the war. Lieutenant Commander Cobb served in stateside naval hospitals until July 21, 1921, when she left active duty and continued her profession as a civilian nurse. In April 1924, she rejoined the Navy, committing herself to long-term military service.
By November 1940, Lieutenant Commander Cobb was stationed in Guam when a devastating typhoon struck the island, damaging nearly every structure. Her service record notes the extraordinary effort she expended caring for the injured and restoring medical operations during the crisis.
In February 1941, she was transferred to the Philippines and assigned as chief nurse at the Canacao Naval Hospital in Manila. Following the Japanese attack on the Cavite Naval Yard, Lieutenant Commander Cobb and ten other Navy nurses remained behind to care for wounded personnel. After the surrender of Manila on January 2, 1942, she and the remaining nurses were interned at Santo Tomas Internment Camp. They were later joined by U.S. Army nurses following the fall of Corregidor.
In May 1943, Lieutenant Commander Cobb and the Navy nurses were transferred to Los Baños, where they established and operated a hospital under extreme conditions. Known as the “Sacred Eleven,” they worked twelve-hour shifts, treating more than 200 patients daily while enduring starvation-level rations of fewer than 900 calories a day. Despite captivity, illness, and deprivation, they maintained professional medical care for fellow prisoners.
Lieutenant Commander Laura Cobb was liberated during the Raid at Los Baños on February 23, 1945.
She retired from the United States Navy in 1947 and continued working as a nurse in Los Angeles until 1974. She later returned to Wichita, Kansas, where she died on September 21, 1981. Lieutenant Commander Cobb is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Her service spanned two world wars and included disaster response, combat-zone medicine, and prolonged imprisonment, an enduring testament to the resilience and professionalism of military nurses.
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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
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