Margaret Gill

After growing up in North Tonawanda and earning a nursing degree in Buffalo, Margaret Gill enlisted in the US Army in May 1941.  In the immediate aftermath of the Allied invasion on D-Day, Margaret and her fellow nurses established a field hospital in Normandy for General Patton’s Third Army and operated there for several months.  On Christmas morning, the hospital was moved to Bastogne where it was under constant enemy fire.  The camp had only three walls and no roof, but continued to treat wounded soldiers in the cold and in the snow.  Margaret later was assigned to the 60th Division and treated victims of the infamous Dachau concentration camp upon its liberation.

Margaret saw two more actions before she was sent to Panama to work in a field hospital.  Promoted to First Lieutenant, she was awarded the Bronze Star for her heroic work in Bastogne and five battle stars for being part of the storming of Normandy and the liberation of Dachau.  After the war, Margaret continued to work as a nurse for several decades in Long Island where she raised a family.

Margaret Gill was the first woman in New York State to be awarded the Bronze Star medal for bravery under enemy fire, and she is honored on the Women In Military Service For America Memorial in Washington, DC.  Margaret died in 1978.