Lucile Griffin Leonard Collection
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Army dietitian olive drab uniform
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U.S. Army hospital dietitian olive drab jacket and long skirt." In 1942 dietitians became part of the army's Medial Department and were eligible to wear standard army or army nurse uniforms. In 1943 a pair of caducei with the initials "HD" was added to the uniform, pinned to the blouse lapels. They are missing from this uniform, which was worn by Lucile Griffin Leonard from 1943 to 1945. The patch on the upper right sleeve of the jacket signifies service in the North African Theater of Operations, and the stripes on the lower right sleeve represent two years overseas service (each stripe represents six months.) On the sleeve not pictured is a laurel wreath patch, which is a "Distinguished Unit Citation" emblem awarded to units for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.
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Lucile Griffin Leonard in Italy
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Lucile Griffin Leonard stands in front of decorative doors in Florence, Italy, wearing olive drab dietitian uniform, in 1944 or 1945.
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Nurses softball team
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Lucile Griffin Leonard and her softball team of nurses, the "Teddy Bears," group together for a photo in Leghorn, Italy, in 1944 or 1945. Leonard is second from right in the back row.
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Oral history interview with Lucile Griffin Leonard
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Chiefly documents Lucile Griffin Leonard's education at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in the late 1930s and early 1940s and her service as a hospital dietitian with the U.S. Army in Africa and Italy during World War II. Leonard comments at length about her experiences at the Woman's College. She describes working to pay for her tuition; social life, including the Civic Music Program, movies, and dating; curfews and dating rules; sleeping on the porches of Kirkland Hall; the dairy farm; the daisy chain tradition; and working in the home economics cafeteria. She also recalls memorable professors, including Miss Stancil, Margaret Edwards, Dean Harriet Elliott, and Katherine Taylor." Topics related to the Leonard's military service focus on her time with the army in Africa and Italy. Leonard remembers telling her mother she was going overseas; her living conditions and social life on the Louis Pasteur; meeting a boy from home in Casablanca; helping the Post Office while waiting for orders in Casablanca; the destruction of Bizerte, Tunisia; working in a tent hospital; working in a French hospital in Naples; rationing food in the army; social life overseas, including playing softball, plane rides, USO shows, dances, and trips to Switzerland and Rome; flying in a B-17; work schedules at Camp Butner and overseas; and her fears and lack of fear while in the army. She also provides opinions about President Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt and her uncertainty about Harry Truman. " Leonard also discusses the advantages of her military service, including increased independence; her opinion of women in combat positions; and the Women in Military Service for America (WIMSA) memorial.
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Portrait of Lucile Leonard
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Portrait of Lucile Leonard in September 1943, right before she shipped out to North Africa. The "HD" on her caduceus pin identifies Leonard as a hospital dietitian.
