Leo, Nancy Jane, born 10-08-1921, in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland, 
United States, the daughter of Francis Patrick “Patsy” Leo (1893–1944) a Cumberland policeman 
and his wife Mary Elizabeth, born Farrell, Leo (1888–1951) 
of Frederick Street in Cumberland. Nancy had two sisters and two brothers, Angela Elizabeth, Leo Lambert (1919–1993), 
Francis Patrick Leo Jr (1926–1926), Rosemary Leo Evans (1928–2025) 
and Richard Patrick Leo (1930–2008) 
Nancy was a graduate of Catholic Girls Central High School, and went on to become a member of the 1942 graduating class of the Allegany Hospital School of Nursing. 
This exceptional woman joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps 
and served with the 216th General Hospital.
216th General Hospital was a United States Army medical unit that operated in Europe during and immediately after World War II, stationed in Bad Cannstatt, Germany (commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Baker Hubbard, MC, under the 803d Hospital Center). 803d Hospital Center (often written as the 803rd Hospital Center) refers to an active command and control unit within the U.S. Army Reserve, which also traces its lineage back to historical operations during World War II. Hospital Centers were established in 1944 to streamline the administration, medical staffing, and specialized clinical consultation across groupings of nearby General and Station Hospitals caring for wounded Allied.
Death and burial ground of Leo, Nancy Jane.
On 24-07-1945, the leaders 
of the major Allied powers (Harry Shipp Truman, 
Winston Leonard Churchill, 
and Joseph “Koba” Stalin) 
were gathered at the Potsdam Conference. There, they discussed the reorganization, demilitarization, and reconstruction of the by-then fully occupied and divided…
Exact on 24-07-1945 Europe had been completely liberated from German occupation. The Second World War in Europe had already officially ended more than two and a half months earlier. Nancy was on her way to Paris, France to visit her sister Angela, also an army nurse. Nancy was riding with two other nurses when, as the result of a close-by civilian car experiencing a blow-out, the nurses’ jeep overturned. Nancy suffered severe injuries and passed away enroute to the hospital. The two nurses she had been riding with were injured. Second Lieutenant Nancy Jane Leo of the U.S. Army had been a member of the Army Nurse Corps for three years, had been serving overseas for 16 months, and was stationed at the 216th General Hospital. Nancy is buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, 50 Val du Scheid, 2517 Hamm (Luxemburg-Stad), Luxemburg In a local newspaper article at that time it was noted that Nancy was the first nurse from Cumberland to lose her life in service to her country, and that her gravesite at that time was adorned with an abundance of flowers and was the most beautiful within the cemetery. She is also the only American nurse buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery. Nancy’s father, Patsy, had been a Cumberland policeman and had passed away a year earlier. She was survived by her mother, her sisters Angela and Rosemary, and a brother, Richard. Nancy Leo would have been 24 years old on 10-08-1945.
Leave a Reply