Lieutenant Colonel Nola Gladys Forrest, A Soldier's Story
Lieutenant Colonel Nola Gladys Forrest, A Soldier's Story
Lieutenant Colonel Nola Gladys Forrest was born on June 6, 1900, in Lake Wilson, Minnesota. From the beginning, her life would be defined by discipline, education, and quiet determination. She attended Macalester College in St. Paul before completing her nursing training at Eitel Hospital, preparing for a career that would soon place her in some of the most dangerous theaters of World War II.
On February 25, 1927, she enlisted in the United States Army Nurse Corps. In the years that followed, she built her reputation as a capable and steady leader, eventually rising to become Director of Nurses in the South Pacific.
When World War II erupted in December 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Forrest was stationed in the Philippines. As Japanese forces advanced, Army medical personnel faced overwhelming casualties, scarce supplies, tropical disease, relentless weather, and enemy fire.
One of her most remarkable moments came during the liberation of Leyte in 1944. Under active combat conditions, Forrest led nurses ashore and helped establish a field hospital inside an abandoned cathedral. Within the first three hours of operation, the facility received more than 600 wounded soldiers. The nurses worked without pause, treating traumatic injuries, infections, and shock, often under the constant threat of renewed attack.
Her leadership did not stop there.
During the liberation of Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, she directed Army nurses as they assumed care for emaciated American and Allied prisoners of war, including fellow Army nurses who had survived years of captivity. Restoring dignity, health, and hope to those POWs was as critical as any battlefield victory.
Lieutenant Colonel Forrest retired from active duty on September 30, 1946, after nearly two decades of service. She continued her life quietly in the Washington, D.C., area until her death on July 30, 1999. Today, she rests in Arlington National Cemetery, a fitting place for a woman who led with courage rather than noise.
Her life is memorialized in Fearless Presence: The Story of Lieutenant Colonel Nola Forrest, who Led the Army Nurses Through Heat, Rain, Mud, and Enemy Fire in WWII by Eleanor Stoddard.
Lieutenant Colonel Nola Gladys Forrest proved that valor is not always the charge forward with a rifle. Sometimes it is the steady hand in a field hospital, the calm voice under bombardment, and the unshakable decision to remain when others are breaking. That is service.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
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