`The real Wonder Women`: North Dakotans among WWII nurses who could become honorary vets
(World News USA)

VALLEY CITY - Ethelyn Smedshammer Paulson knew in her teens that she wanted to be a nurse, but the opportunity presented itself more quickly than she thought. In fact, the day after finishing high school in 1945, she joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. `I graduated on a Friday, and I packed up Saturday,` said Paulson, now 92, speaking from her apartment home in Valley City. Created just after the midpoint of World War II, the Corps was meant to ease a serious nursing shortage brought on by nurses heading overseas to serve. The cadet nurses staffed U.S. hospitals during the war and cared for the wounded when they...