Wilma Leona Jackson

CAPT Wilma Leona Jackson was the third Director of the United States Navy Nurse Corps, serving in that position from 1954 to 1958.

Early Life
Wilma Leona Jackson was born to Roy and Carrie (Furnas) Class in Union, Ohio in 1909. She attended Butler Centralized School, Vandalia, OH, graduating in 1927. In September of 1930 she graduated from nurse's training school at Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, OH.

Navy Nurse Corps Career
Leona Jackson was appointed to the United States Navy Nurse Corps on 6 July 1936. She served her first few years, from 1936 until 1939 at the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, PAand then at the Naval Hospital, Brooklyn, NY from 1939 to 1940. In 1940, then Ensign Jackson was assigned to the Naval Hospital, Guam, Marianas Islands. In December 1941, two days after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded and took all personnel prisoner. Jackson and three other nurses, under the supervision of Chief Nurse Marian Olds, continued to work at the hospital until they were transported to Japan where they were held as prisoners of war until August of 1942 when they were repatriated through Mozambique.

Jackson was promoted to LTJG in 1943 and then, in 1944, she assigned to the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) in Washington, D. C.. After her promotion to LT in 1944, she returned to Guam where she was assigned to Fleet Hospital #103. She was the Senior Nurse Corps Oficer in the Island Command until her transfer in December of 1945.


 * 1946- Navy Department at Naval Dispensary, Washington, DC
 * 1950 - Education Officer in Nursing Section of BUMED
 * 1950-1952 - DUINS at Columbia University, NYC to get BS and MA in Nursing Administration
 * 1952 -Naval Hospital, Oakland, CA.
 * 1953 - Chief Nurse, Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, VA.

Director, Navy Nurse Corps
increase in temporary CDRs and LCDRs in the NNC
 * 1 May 1954 - Director, United States Navy Nurse Corps
 * 2 May 1954 - Officer Grade Limitation Act of 1954 (Public Law #349)
 * Retired 1958

Later Life
CAPT Jackson retired to Ohio. She passed away on 23 March, 1998 at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, and is buried at Polk Grove Cemetery in Vandalia, Ohio.

Education
Graduated Miami Valley Hospital, Nurses Training School, Dayton, Ohio in 1930. BS and MA in Nursing Administration, Columbia University, NYC, 1952.