It’s Official!
After women had demonstrated their abilities in two world wars, and recognizing the shortage of armed forces medical personnel, Congress passed the Army Female Medical Department Act of 1949. In 1951, Helen E. Myers became the first woman commissioned by the U.S. Army Dental Corps. Here, Major Robert Weeks congratulates Captain Myers on her first assignment at Fort Lee, Virginia.
Overseas Service
Myers provided dental services to Army troops in Italy and Japan. Both before and after her military service, she practiced oral surgery, exodontics (extractions) and prosthodontics (replacing missing teeth) - sharing an office with her dentist father in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A lifelong pilot and member of the Lancaster Civil Air Patrol, Myers died when her plane crashed after an equipment malfunction. She never married.