Della H. Raney

Della Hayden Raney (January 10, 1912 – October 23, 1987) was an American nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. Raney was the first African American nurse to report for duty in World War II and the first to be appointed chief nurse. She graduated from the Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in 1937. At Lincoln, she worked as an operation supervisor and before enlisting in the military had also worked at the Community Hospital of Norfolk, Virginia, and at the K.B. Reynolds Hospital in Winston-Salem. Raney, commissioned as a second lieutenant, was first stationed at Fort Bragg, where she worked as a nursing supervisor. Also in 1944, she was transferred to Fort Huachuca. At the time, she was the only black woman to earn that rank and work for the Army Air Forces. Raney was also promoted to the rank of major that year. Raney served in the Army until her retirement in 1978.

She was honored for her service by the Tuskegee Airmen in 1978. Fellow soldiers called her "Maw Raney."

On October 23, 1987, Raney died. The Tuskegee Airmen and the National Black Nurses Association created a scholarship named after her in 2012.