Nancy Leftenant-Colon

Nancy Leftenant-Colon was Chief Nurse and Major in the United States Air Force Nurse Corps.

Born on September 29, 1920 to James and Eunice Leftenant, she is one of 12 children. Growing up poor, she learned early on, determination and pride were essential survival skills.

In January 1945, following her graduation from Lincoln School for Nurses in the Bronx, Ms. Leftenant-Colon volunteered and was accepted into active duty as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps. Her first assignment was at Lowell General Hospital in Fort Devens, where she was the forerunner to the integration of Black nurses into all-White medical units. Prior to this assignment, Black nurses went from basic training to an all-Black unit located in Arizona.

Ms. Leftenant-Colon made history in 1946 by becoming the first Black nurse to be accepted, commissioned, and integrated into the regular Army Air Corps when she was assigned to the 332nd Station Medical Group at Lockbourne Army Air Base.

In 1947, she transferred to the United States Air Force. Between 1953–1954, as a qualified Flight Nurse assigned to the 648 1st Medical Evacuation Group at Tachikawa, Japan, she supervised while evacuating patients intra-Japan, intra-Korea, from Japan to Okinawa and from Seoul, Korea to Tachikawa, Japan.

Following the fall of Dien Bien Pu in 1954, she was assigned as a member of the first flight evacuation crew assigned to the C-124 Globemaster(s) used to evacuate the first 100 patients – French Legionnaires – from Saigon to Tachikawa, Japan.

Following military retirement, Ms. Leftenant-Colon returned to her hometown of Amityville to continue in public service as a high school nurse, retiring in June 1984.

In March 1985, the Amityville Free School District commemorated the 30th Anniversary of Ms. Leftenant-Colon’s appointment to the Regular Army Nurse Corps. A reception and a proclamation declared April as Nancy Leftenant-Colon Month, to be observed by the school community and discussed in the classroom as an event of historical significance to the Nation and to the district.

Ms. Leftenant-Colon served in the position of National Secretary for Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated (TAI), from 1978-1987. At the TAI Annual Convention in 1987, she was duly elected 1st Vice President, and in 1989, she was elected President of Tuskegee Airmen, Incorporated, the first woman to be elected to the position – once again making history.