Establishment Date of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps 

The United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established on May 13, 1908, by an Act of Congress signed by President Theodore Roosevelt This legislation created the corps to formally organize and support nursing services within the Navy. The first group of nurses, known as The Sacred Twenty, were selected in 1908 and assigned to the Naval Medical School Hospital in Washington, D.C.  At the time, the Navy did not provide them with room or board, so they rented their own accommodations and prepared their own meals Among them were future superintendents of the corps, including Esther Voorhees Hasson first superintendent, 1908–1911 and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee second superintendent, 1911–1922. 

Before 1908, nursing duties aboard Navy ships and in Navy hospitals were filled by junior enlisted men, later by a small number of female contract nurses, and by volunteer nurses during conflicts such as the Civil War and the Spanish–American War . The 1908 establishment marked the first time the Navy had a formal, organized corps of nurses. Today, the Navy Nurse Corps has grown from 20 women in 1908 to over 4,000 active duty and reserve nurses of both genders 

Before this period, women had also served in great numbers during World War I and World War II, primarily in temporary or volunteer positions such as clerks, nurses, and support staff. Specifically, in World War II, there were close to 86,000 women serving in the Navy as nurses or in the WAVES Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service program, which was authorized under the Naval Reserve Act of 1938 and subsequently amended in 1942 specifically to establish the Women's Reserve. 

By 1947, women's roles were also recognized further through the Army-Navy Nurses Act, granting nurses permanent commissioned rank. But it was in 1948 that the Integration Act established broader inclusion by allowing women to serve alongside men—not just during war, but forever. 

The bill was preceded by certain restrictions. It capped the number of women in service by branch at two percent and excluded women from combat units and combat flying. In spite of the restrictions, it was a great leap towards gender equality in the military.