180725-N-N0101-5001

180725-N-N0101-5001 WASHINGTON (July 25, 2018) An undated official portrait of Rear Adm. Alene B. Duerk. Duerk entered the Navy in January 1943 and initially served as a ward nurse at the Portsmouth and Bethesda naval hospitals. She was later assigned to the hospital ship USS Benevolence and deployed to the Pacific Theater during World War II in support of Adm. William Halsey’s Third Fleet. In May 1970, Duerk was appointed director of the Navy Nurse Corps. She became the first woman to attain flag rank in the U.S. Navy on June 1, 1972. Duerk was born in Defiance, Ohio and retired from the Navy in 1975. (U.S. Navy photo/Released)