Clara Petersen, Army Nurse Corps, World War I - UPDATE June 2018

On a recent trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary in Madison, Wisconsin, Caroline and I were on Capitol Square and decided to visit the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. Pleasantly surprised that admission was free, we became immediately absorbed in the first gallery exhibition about Wisconsin in the U.S. Civil War, 1861 - 1865. We were fascinated by the information about the effects of injury and disease upon the soldiers in that war.

Moving on to the next gallery, we saw that it contained a temporary exhibition, remembering the contributions of  Wisconsin men and women in World War One:

 WWI BEYOND THE TRENCHES: 

Stories from the Front

My eye was immediately drawn to the far wall of the exhibition gallery, and the red cross flag, in a display of information about Wisconsin women who served as nurses in World War One.

Moving closer, I looked at the nurse's uniform, cap and boots in a display case posed before a stretcher.  Glancing at the wall, I saw this exhibit label:

Imagine my surprise and pride to see the service of my great-great Aunt, Clara C. Petersen, honored in this centennial exhibition of "The Great War."

Here are some other images from the display on Wisconsin nurses in that war:

 

The woman pictured below is Madison native Helen Bulovsky, who worked at Base Hospital #22, just outside of Bordeaux, France, in an area called the Beau Desert (Beautiful Desert). The nurse's cap and boots in the uniform display belonged to her.

This exhibition will be on display until July 13, 2020. 

My original blog post about Clara C. Petersen's service in World War One may be found here.