A First Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces, Doctor Cornelia Ann Wyckoff[i] was born on May 29, 1916[ii] in Manhattan, New York.[iii]

She was the daughter of Dr. John “Jack” H. Wyckoff,[iv] who was born in Tindivanam, South India, and Elizabeth Crane Porter Wyckoff, of Connecticut.[v] Her father was a physician all of his working life and her mother was a tailoress at a magazine in her younger years.[vi] Eventually her father was a Dean with the New York University College of Medicine[vii] where he also served as a professor of medicine.

Cornelia had a sister, Elizabeth Porter Wyckoff,[viii] who was just 12 months older than Cornelia[ix] and a younger brother, John Henry Wyckoff Jr.[x]

When Cornelia was just 16 months old and her sister, Elizabeth, was 2.5 years old, her father was called into active service for WWI. Doctor Wyckoff was a Major in the Medical Corps serving at a variety of bases around the country as well as serving overseas, returning home when she was 2.5 years old.

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

She graduated magna cum laude[xi] on June 4, 1937 from Bryn Mawr College[xii] and the very next day attended her father’s funeral. He was the Dean of the New York University Bellevue Medical College, but he did not live to see her follow in his footsteps to medical school. Found near death in the anatomical laboratory, Dr. John Wyckoff’s demise made the New York Times with the headline “Dr. Wyckoff Was Suicide.” He left behind a note. At the time of his death, he did suffer from heart disease but there was a large quantity of morphine found in his vital organs. He was known to carry morphine to alleviate his pain from a medical condition.[xiii]

In her medical school class in 1939, Cornelia is pictured as one of the only two women and during her freshman year, she was the only woman class officer when she served as secretary.[xiv] She graduated in 1941 from the New York University College of Medicine where she was a member of the medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha.[xv] In December of 1941, she was one of the coauthors of Condensation Reactions II Alkylidene Cyanoacetic and Malonic Esters in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.[xvi]

Her internship was at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY and at Bellevue Hospital in New York, NY.[xvii]

At the time she entered the service, her brother was a Tech Sergeant in the Army Air Forces and her sister was living in Aurora, NY.[xviii]

HER MILITARY STORY

First Lieutenant Cornelia Wyckoff started active duty on March 3rd, 1944 and had been stationed at Foster General Hospital in Jackson, MS.[xix] Her service number was O-545647.[xx]

In January of 1945, Cornelia must have celebrated the news of her brother’s engagement despite him being stationed in the Pacific. The news of the future wedding of John Jr. to Jane Brower surely reached Cornelia in Jackson, MS. No doubt someone mailed her the newspaper clipping from the society page of The New York Times.[xxi]

HER DEATH

On March 27, 1945, First Lieutenant Cornelia Ann Wyckoff died in the Touro Infirmary New Orleans after falling ill[xxii] of Clostridium welchii infection and heart disease[xxiii]. She was the only woman doctor to die in service in WWII.[xxiv] She was 28.

Doctor Wyckoff had a non-cemetery burial and the location of her remains is unknown.[xxv]

COMMENDATIONS

World War II Victory Medal

American Campaign Medal

Army Presidential Unit Citation

Army Good Conduct Medal

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

[i] https://www.fold3.com/page/638836371-cornelia-a-wyckoff

[ii] https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60541&h=4597978&tid=&pid=&queryId=0c0f05972abd9f5f29b1debd2595d815&usePUB=true&_phsrc=cjq374&_phstart=successSource

[iii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/family-tree/person/tree/32715672/person/320170415558/facts?_phsrc=cjq376&_phstart=successSource

[iv][iv] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[v] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/family-tree/person/tree/32715672/person/320170414215/facts

[vi] 1920 census https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4313924-00295?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=5b659ff93d036177f556e307e596756e&usePUB=true&_phsrc=cjq366&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=110438579

[vii] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[viii] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[ix] 1920 census https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4313924-00295?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=5b659ff93d036177f556e307e596756e&usePUB=true&_phsrc=cjq366&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=110438579

[x]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4638854_00715?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=42900385

[xi] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/06/04/94383038.html?pageNumber=23

[xii] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[xiii] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/06/12/94387457.html?pageNumber=7

[xiv] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/1265_b889947-00131?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=6b0d6ab8a4eea9343eff6ae89f685b67&usePUB=true&_phsrc=cjq378&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=1424225404

[xv] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[xvi] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01857a057?src=recsys#

[xvii] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[xviii] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[xix] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[xx] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=445142

[xxi] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/01/02/84625326.html?pageNumber=17

[xxii] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/03/29/94018742.html?pageNumber=20

[xxiii] http://www.hellgatepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Pages-from-ToHealAndServe-Final-11-25-13.pdf

[xxiv] http://www.hellgatepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Pages-from-ToHealAndServe-Final-11-25-13.pdf

[xxv] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138602334/cornelia-ann-wyckoff#source

Cornelia Ann Wyckoff Bryn Mawr College 1937-1-1.jpg

Cornelia Ann Wyckoff Freshman Year Medical School-1.jpg

Cornelia Ann Wyckoff Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 128, No. 8, page 612. June 23, 1945.png

Cornelia Ann Wyckoff Mar 29, 1945, page 20.png

Cornelia A Wyckoff