Cordelia Elizabeth Cook
Cordelia Elizabeth "Betty" Cook was an American combat nurse in the United State Army Corps during World War II. She was the first woman in the U.S. Army to receive both the Bronze Star Medal award and the Purple Heart. Cook was born in Ft Thomas, Ky. on March 17, 1919. She obtained her primary schooling in Fort Thomas, and went by the name "Betty".
Cook attended the Christ Hospital School of Nursing in Cincinnati Ohio, for 3 years and graduated in 1940. She became a surgical nurse with the rank of First Lieutenant in the United States Army Nurse Corps. Cook was sent to Europe during World War II. The field hospital in Italy she was working at was bombed in 1943. In spite of the dangers, she continued her nursing duties into January 1944 at the 11th Field Hospital in the Presenzano sector at the Italian front. She received a Bronze Star Medal award for her service, being the first woman to receive the award. Cook sustained a shrapnel wound to her right arm from German artillery fire while carrying out her duties. Because of this she received the Purple Heart award, becoming the first woman to receive both the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart awards.
Cook married Harold E. Fillmore, a U.S. Army captain.The Fillmores had a daughter, Sara, and two sons, David and William. After the war, she worked as a registered nurse at Doctors Hospital North in Columbus Ohio, for 28 years. She was a member of the Crestview Presbyterian Church in West Chester, Ohio, near Cincinnati. Cook died in Upper Arlington, Franklin County, Ohio, on June 19, 1996, at 77 years of age.
She was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Southgate.
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Kentucky Post, Wednesday, 24 May 1944, page 1
The first woman to win two decorations in this war is the honor and distinction claimed by Lt. Cordelia E Cook, Army Nurse Corps, daughter of Police of Chief and Mrs. Louis W Cook Ft Thomas.
Already in possession of the Purple Heart, Lt. Cook was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service on the Italian front in direct support of combat operations from November 1943 to January 1944, the citation declared.
She was graduated from the Christ Hospital School of Nursing in 1940 and entered the Army Nurse Corps in May 1941. She served in the Sicilian operations, was wounded when her hospital was bombed in the Presenzano sector and was one of the first women to land with the troops in Italy.
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Kentucky Post, Wednesday, 22 November 1944, page 1
Lt. Cordelia Cook Fillmore, daughter of Police Chief Louis Cook and Mrs. Cook, Ft Thomas, is the first American woman to receive a bronze star from the War Department for bravery, will be given the Treasury Department Salute at 1:30 pm Saturday in a program to be broadcast over station WCKY.
The salute to the Army nurse, arranged in connection with the Sixth War Bond drive, will be a dramatization of action in Italy during which Lt. Fillmore was wounded during an air raid on a hospital at the Italian front. The presentation will describe how Lt. Fillmore persuaded a medical aid to patch up her arm and side. Taking tablets to relieve the pain, she continued on duty for 24 hours to attend wounded men despite the agony of her own wounds. when relief was finally forthcoming, she collapsed and slept for several days.
An Army lieutenant who witnessed the incident, described here action as the bravest he had ever seen. Lt. Fillmore, who is attached to the 11th Field Hospital in the south of France with Gen. Alexander M Patch's Seventh Army, has been overseas more than two years. She served in Africa during its invasion and participated in the invasion of Sicily Italy and France.
She is the wife of Capt. Harold Fillmore, of Columbus O. the couple having had but a week's honeymoon before the bride was ordered overseas. The couple, who were wed in Colorado Springs, expect to be reunited for Capt. Fillmore is on his way to France.
A graduate of Highlands High School in the class of 1937, Lt. Fillmore completed her nurses training at Christ Hospital in 1940, after which she served as a nurse at the Ft Thomas Post, where she met her husband. In addition to the bronze star, she also possesses a medal for direct support to combat operations in Italy and the Purple Heart.