Montana WWI Army Nurse Receives (Posthumous) Silver Star Medal for Valor in Combat

At Bob Hope Veterans Chapel, Los Angeles National Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA, September 24, 2025, Lieutenant (nurse) Elizabeth Dorothy Sandelius, US Army Nurse Corps, WWI, received, posthumously, the Silver Star Medal for heroism under fire in WWI France. She is now among the first four American servicewomen to receive the Silver Star Medal: the successor to the WWI Citation Star.

(Left) LTC Ed Saunders presents the Silver Star Medal to Mr. Bill Benbow, LT Sandelius’s grandson. (Right) Sandelius nursing school graduation photograph. Helena, MT.

Born 1893 in Cokedale, MT, to Swedish immigrants, Sandelius was head nurse at the Columbus, MT, hospital and clinic. In October 1917 she entered the Army Nurse Corps and volunteered for war duty in France.

In August 1918, Sandelius nursed at Field Hospital 112, US 28th Infantry Division, Cohan, France. German forces battered the village and field hospital. For eight consecutive days and nights Sandelius endured enemy ground and aerial bombardment to care for desperately wounded American and allied soldiers. She refused to withdraw to safety.

Sandelius married Cebron Benbow in Montana. She died May 1983 in Los

Angeles, CA. Sandelius-Benbow is memorialized in Los Angeles National Cemetery. Her new memorial marker reflects her receiving the Silver Star Medal.

LTC Ed Saunders, US Army (retired) giving primary remarks at the chapel. Saunders spent many years researching the service of LT Sandelius and prepared the successful medal recommendation to the Army.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward E. Saunders, US Army (retired), Billings, MT, in coordination with the Benbow family, researched and prepared the recommendation to the US Army for the Silver Star Medal for Sandelius. The Army concurred.

At Bob Hope Veterans Chapel on behalf of the US Army, the Army Nurse Corps, and of a grateful nation, Saunders presented the Silver Star Medal to William “Bill” Benbow, Elizabeth’s grandson. Dignitaries attending included the Consul General of France in Los Angeles, and the Secretary of California Department of Veterans Affairs.

Time will not dim the glory of their deeds. General of the Armies John J. Pershing.

LTC Ed Saunders presents a rose at Sandelius memorial marker.

Sandelius-Benbow memorial marker showing Silver Star Medal