Jane Rignel

Jane I. Rignel St. John ARRC (June 16, 1884 – April 1, 1977) was a United States Army nurse who was the Chief Nurse of Mobile Hospital No. 2 during World War I.^[1][2] For her heroism she was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, the British Royal Red Cross, and the United States Silver Star medal.^[1][2]

Jane I Rignel was born in Lockport, New York. She graduated from Columbia University Presbyterian School of Nursing in 1913.^[2]

After graduation, Rignel went to work at Western Electric Company plant in New York City where she established a workmen's compensation health aid station.^[2]

World War I hospitals were often organized around civilian hospitals. In May 1917, Rignel joined the Army Nurse Corps. as Chief Nurse of Mobile No. 2 Hospital which was primarily staffed by personnel from the Presbyterian Hospital in New York.^[1]

On August 14, 1918, General John J. Pershing sent a commendation to the whole staff of Mobile Hospital No. 2 to recognize them for their courage under fire.^[1] For her heroism she was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, the British Royal Red Cross, and the United States Silver Star medal.^[1][2]

During World War II, St. John was the assistant director of the Nurse's Aide Corps of the New York Chapter of the American Red Cross.^[2]

Rignel married Captain Fordyce B. St. John, the commander of Mobile Hospital 2, in 1919.^[1][2] The St. John's lived in Manhattan, New York and Woodstock, Vermont.^[2] Fordyce St. John, a professor of surgery at Columbia University, died in 1973.^[2]

St. John died in April 1977 in New York at 92 years old.^[2]