Honoring Veterans: Army Medical Corps Veteran Margaret Craighill

Margaret Craighill was born in October 1898 in Southport, North Carolina. Both her father (colonel) and grandfather (brigadier general) served in the military. Craighill attended the University of Wisconsin, receiving both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science. After graduating, she worked as a physiologist with the chemical warfare department of the Army in Maryland, later enrolling at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she obtained her Medical Degree (MD). She then became an Assistant Instructor of Pathology at Yale in 1926 and an assistant gynecology resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland until 1928. 

In 1940, Craighill was the Dean of the Women’s College of Pennsylvania. This meant that she was responsible for reforming the college’s curriculum and other issues like student-faculty relations. In April 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Sparkman-Johnson Bill, which allowed women to enlist in the medical corps. Craighill requested a leave of absence as the Dean to enter the Army Medical Corps.

Craighill was the first female physician who became a commissioned officer in the Army Medical Corps. Her service in the Army Medical Corps, or the Women’s Army Corps (WACS), allowed her to provide medical care and teach hygiene courses, as well as help establish a board of Army doctors to create standards that were later published. Her work significantly impacted the conditions of over 160,000 Army nurses and other personnel. Recognizing her dedication, she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and awarded a Legion of Merit. After separating from WACS in 1946, she continued her medical practice, starting a career with the then-known Veterans Administration, where she cared for women Veterans nationwide as the Chief Consultant of the Medical Care of Women Veterans. In 1960, she opened her private practice in New Haven, Connecticut.  

Craighill died in July 1977.

We honor her service.

Writer: Mariah Bailey

Editor: Tayler Rairigh, Kinsey Spratt

Researcher: Ralph Romea, Endreyah Middleton

Graphic Designer: William Vega