Letter 83 - The Sky Is The Limit (Part 2)

Jan 28, 2025

Hello Bregdan Woman,

You have Suess today…

Yesterday’s letter introduced you to Major Nancy “Lefty” Leftenant-Colon. If you haven’t read it yet, please don’t miss it – if you want this letter to make sense!

When I stopped yesterday, Nancy had just received a frantic phone call.

“She’s in labor. It’s too early. It’s too early. She’s not due to give birth for weeks. The hospital won’t take her…they said they don’t see black women. They won’t take her. They won’t even look at her because we’re black. Please. Can you help us? It’s too early. Please…”

Nancy understood the desperation and fear of a looming premature birth alone in the late 1940’s. Swallowing, she made her voice strong, confident and hopefully reassuring. “Yes, I’ll help. Can you come to the medical clinic at the air base? I’ll meet you there.”

Garnering her courage and enlisting the partnership of flight surgeon Tuskegee Airman Vance H. Marchbanks Jr on a hurried run to the clinic, she met the terrified woman at the door. Despite the delay in care and a very early entrance to the world, the welcome cries of that 3-pound premature baby filled the air. Smiles and tears of hope flowed freely around the room: surgeon and nurse worked hand in hand to save a precious life. The mother and baby both survived and thrived.

Nancy kept striving to serve and make a difference.

1947: Yes, you are the first black woman EVER to be accepted, commissioned and integrated into the Army Nurse Corps after desegregation following World War II.

1948: Yes, you now have Regular Army Nurse Corps status with the Tuskegee Airman 332nd Fighter Group.

1949: Yes, the United States Air Force accepts you since the Tuskegee Airman Experience is disbanded.

1949: Yes, you are the first women to serve in both U.S. Army AND US Air Force Nurse Corps

Major Leftenant-Cohen tirelessly worked to treat hundreds of wounded warriors, saving countless lives on the front lines of war. She helped develop hospital wards in the active war zones of both Korea and Vietnam, while she faced ridiculous racial prejudice and insults. Her formal certification on a paper document as an elite Army Flight Nurse took five extra years of waiting. She was, and worked, as that elite Army Flight Nurse, yet because of racial discrimination, the officers delayed her official and formal certification.

However, that wait did not stop this Bregdan Woman. Her reflections reveal her busy life prevented her from focusing on that prejudice. Nancy saw herself as a nurse. Period. She merely happened to be Black. Her integrity, professional work ethic, compassion and intelligence spoke for her. “I was too busy to give much thought to them.” Her trips around the world treating soldiers gave her opportunities to meet the likes of Bob Hope and Marilyn Monroe. However, those meetings were minor blips in her life. Nancy’s vision remained steadfast on the skies.

1950: Assignment: Korea

1951: Assignment: Vietnam

1952: Assignment: Germany

1953: Assignment: Tachikawa Japan

1954: Assignment: Tachikawa Japan

1954: She flew into the outpost in Vietnam’s Dien Bien Phu region to assist with the very first medical evacuations of the French Legionnaires.

1955: Assignment: Tachikawa Japan

1956-1965: Chief Nurse, Major USAFNC at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey

1970-1984: When she retired from the military at age 50, she was most certainly not done helping people. She returned to New York and Amityville High School to be the nurse. She believed in young people and as her parents had, she fiercely believed in education.

I wish I could have spoken with her and learned from her. Can you imagine? The contrast of her previous life from active bomb filled war zones to crowded noisy high school halls had to have been intense.

“My teacher said I should come see you. I’m nauseated and she thinks I have a fever? Can you check?

The high school sophomore girl’s eyes were dull and empty. Shoulders slumped, she leaned on the door frame of the nurse’s office, tucked her chin, stared at the floor and sighed, “I can’t be sick. I have three tests this week. I hate make-up tests. It’s always hard to add more studying when I’ve already studied. I didn’t want to come…”

“I understand, Alisha. Come on in and let’s see what going on with you. I know it’s hard to get everything done. Yet I know you. I know you’ll figure out a way to handle it... I’m sorry that this nasty flu chose you today. Both you and I know that we can do more than we think we can. Today, however, you do have a fever and need to go home. To rest. Your teachers will work with you to create a plan to make up your work. Let me know in the morning how you’re feeling. How else can I help you?“

Nancy knew how to help teenagers battle through obstacles because she had done it her entire career.

Holding two honorary Doctorate degrees, “Dr. Major” Nancy continued to influence and impact those around her even as she aged. This Bregdan Woman’s accomplishments did not stop!

1989: First and only woman elected national president of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc.

1995: Special Congressional honor granted by the Commemorative Committee for World War II and the Legislative Black Caucus, presented by President Clinton.

1999: Received the Intrepid Sea-Air Space Museum Foundation Leadership Award.

2007: Received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush.

2016: Inducted into Long Island Air and Space Hall of Fame.

2018: Amityville High School authorities announced that a new Library Media Center – a center of knowledge - was to be constructed and named, Major Leftenant-Colón Library Media Center, to commemorate both her life and her distinguished military service.

A local legend in Amityville, with a ready smile, Nancy spoke often of the importance of education. The townspeople, her students, and the high school staff speak highly of her compassion, inspiration and kindness. They listened when she spoke of living boldly and seeking out new places, new adventures, new experiences, and looking beyond.

They listened because she had wholly lived her sage wisdom. When Nancy was inducted into the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Hall of Fame, she said, “I’m not done yet! There is so much out there that you can snatch from to make a bigger circle. This is what I wanted, and this is what I went after!”

Her limit? Her favorite motto embodies her consummate answer: “The sky’s the limit!”

She lived her motto until she died at 103!

That, my friends is the precise and direct motto to which Bregdan Women ascribe: The sky’s the limit!”