Alene Bertha Duerk (March 29, 1920 – July 21, 2018) became the first female admiral in the U.S. Navy in 1972. She was also the director of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps from 1970 to 1975. She is a 1974 recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award of Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.
Early life and education
Duerk was born in Defiance, Ohio, on March 29, 1920, to Albert and Emma Duerk.
Career
On January 23, 1943, she was appointed as an ensign in the Nurse Corps of the U.S. Naval Reserve. After receiving her commission in 1943, she was assigned in March of that year as a Ward Nurse at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia. In January 1944, she transferred, in a similar capacity, to the Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland and in May 1945 joined the That vessel, anchored off Eniwetok, received the sick and wounded brought back from Third Fleet operations against Japan and later joined the Third Fleet for its last strikes against the enemy. After the cessation of hostilities, that hospital ship remained in Japanese waters, off Yokosuka, to assist in the processing of liberated Allied prisoners of war. The Benevolence returned to the United States with wounded servicemen in late 1945. Assigned in January 1946 to the Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois, Duerk continued duty there until June of that year, when she was released from active naval service.
Awards and decorations
- 60px Legion of Merit
Tributes
In 2013 the University of Central Florida College of Nursing unveiled a bronze statue of Duerk, and it was put on display there. That university also offers the Rear Admiral Alene Duerk VNA Endowed Nursing Scholarship.
Personal life and retirement
Having heard of her promotion to rear admiral on the radio in her car, a toll booth operator was the first person Duerk spoke to about it. But by the time she had gotten home, family was already calling and the press was waiting for her.
After retirement, she joined the board of the Visiting Nurse Association in the early 1990s, which later became the Visiting Nurse Foundation in 1997, serving on the board for nearly 25 years. The board established the Admiral Alene Duerk Endowed Scholarship Fund at University of Central Florida in her honor.