- Carmen Dumler
Infobox Military Person
name=Carmen Lozano Dumler
born= 1924
died=
placeofbirth=San Juan, Puerto Rico
placeofdeath=
caption=Second Lieutenant Carmen Lozano Dumler
nickname=
allegiance=
serviceyears=1944-1946
rank= Second Lieutenant
commands=
unit= United States Army Nurses
battles=
awards=
laterwork=Second Lieutenant Carmen Lozano Dumler (born 1924 in
San Juan, Puerto Rico ), was one of the first Puerto Rican women to become aUnited States Army officer.Early years
Lozano was born and raised in the capital city of
Puerto Rico , where she also received her primary and secondary education. After graduating from high school, she enrolled in thePresbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in San Juan where she became a certifiednurse in 1944.By this time the
United States had enteredWorld War II and therefore needed to boost its military capabilities; as a result, the Army ordered Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment to full war strength and drafted many Puerto Ricans — even those whose knowledge of English was minimal. As a result the Army recognized the need for bilingual nurses to help the soldiers that returned with wounds. In 1944, the Army sent three WAC (Women's Army Corps) recruiters to the island to organize a unit of 200 WACs. Over 1,500 women responded to the call and applied. Lozano applied to become an Army nurse and was one of thirteen women to be selected.Military service
On
August 21 ,1944 , she was sworn in as a 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to the 161st General Hospital in San Juan, where she continued to receive further training. Upon completing her advanced training, she was sent to Camp Tortugero where she also assisted as an interpreter whenever needed.In 1945, Lozano was reassigned to the 359th Station Hospital of Ft. Read,
Trinidad and Tobago ,British West Indies , there she attended wounded soldiers who had returned fromNormandy ,France .While in Trinidad she decided that she would like to become a doctor after the war and took correspondence courses from
Louisiana State University . She met Army Doctor Lieutenant Joseph Dumler in Trinidad and they were married in the BaseChapel . After the war, Lozano, like so many other women in the military, returned to civilian life. She continued her nursing career in Puerto Rico until she retired in 1975.Awards and decorations
Among Dumler's awards and decorations are:
*
*
*Badges:
* Army Nurse Corps badgeee also
*List of notable Puerto Ricans - Military
*Puerto Rican women in the military External links
* [http://www.womensmemorial.org/Education/PRHistory.html Women's Memorial]
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