The nurse in this photo likely had few chances to sit once she arrived to her placement with the Red Cross. The skills of nurses were imperative in a war as devastating as World War I. Established in 1909, the nursing service of the American Red Cross provided trained nurses for the U.S. army and navy. In Minnesota, 15,000 women volunteered to serve in some capacity in the Red Cross. Young women travelled overseas to France to serve as nurses in Red Cross hospitals. The work was hard and there was more work than the nurses could manage, so the Red Cross also trained and sent nursing assistants.