Anna Mae Hays

Early life and education McCabe was born on February 16, 1920, in Buffalo, New York, the middle of three children. who was of Welsh descent; both her parents were officers of The Salvation Army. Hays had a love of music, playing the piano, the organ, and the French horn and wanted to attend Juilliard School to study music, but due to a lack of funds for tuition she decided to pursue nursing instead.

Career India In May 1942, she joined the Army Nurse Corps, and was sent to India in January 1943 during World War II. She served with the 20th Field Hospital in Ledo in the northeastern region of Assam. The living and working conditions were primitive; buildings were made of bamboo, and dysentery, leeches and snakes were common, particularly during monsoon seasons. Just over two years later, in April 1945, she was promoted to first lieutenant.

In October 1960, she became the chief nurse of the 11th Evacuation Hospital in Pusan. From 1963 to 1966, she was assistant chief of the Army Nurse Corps. In July 1967, she was promoted to the rank of Colonel, and on September 1 of the same year she was appointed chief of the Corps, a position she held until her retirement on August 31, 1971. Hays said in her address to the gathering, that the general stars "reflect[ed] the dedicated, selfless, and often heroic efforts of Army nurses throughout the world since 1901 in time of peace and war."

Hays made a number of recommendations regarding the treatment of women, which were accepted into military policy, including not automatically discharging who became pregnant and not determining appointments to the Army Nurse Corps Reserve based on the age of a nurse's dependents. In addition, regulations were changed to allow spouses of female service members to claim similar privileges to spouses of male service members.

Death Hays died at Knollwood Retirement Facility in Washington, D.C., on January 7, 2018, at age 97, from complications of a heart attack.

Three days later, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf ordered the state flag at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg and at all state facilities in Allentown to fly at half staff in honor to her death.

Hays was eligible to buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but had chosen instead to be buried with her parents in Grandview Cemetery in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania in her native Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

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