Living Legend Proclamation
American Legion Post 270
Award Presentation
During a ceremony at American Legion Post 270 on Tuesday, Feb. 1, the Military Women’s Memorial honored 103-year-old World War II veteran Regina Benson with the Living Legend Proclamation.
In September 1944, not long after her graduation from nursing school, Benson and three other graduates enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps. Her brothers also served in the U.S. Armed Forces at that time. Throughout her service, Benson was stationed in hospitals and operating rooms in Hawaii, Okinawa and mainland Japan. She served from 1944 until she was honorably discharged as a second lieutenant in April 1946. Regina is a member of American Legion Post 270 in McLean, Virginia.
At the end of the ceremony, Benson remarked that she accepted the award “not for myself but on behalf of all the medical personnel who served in World War II. …”
