Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who battled racial discrimination in a barrier-breaking career as a military nurse, serving as the first African American in the regular Army Nurse Corps and later caring ...

She was later an Air Force officer. By Clay Risen Nancy Leftenant-Colon, a granddaughter of enslaved people who in 1948 became the first Black nurse to serve in the regular U.S. armed forces ...

She was 104. Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who retired as a major and died earlier this month at a New York nursing home, was remembered by relatives and friends for quietly breaking down racial barriers ...