In May, 1944 in Washington, D.C. there was a joint ceremony marking the observance of the second annual national induction of the Cadet Nurse Corps. Thomas Parran, Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, led the 112,000 cadet nurses in the induction pledge, Petry gave remarks, and others including Eleanor Roosevelt, Frances Bolton, Helen Hayes and Bing Crosby paid tribute to them. The Freedman's Hospital (later known as Howard University Hospital) joined with other schools of nursing in the District of Columbia and Alexandria, Virginia in a joint ceremony on Constitution Avenue, joined by the Cadet Nurse Glee Club. The ceremony was broadcast coast-to-coast on the Mutual Broadcasting network by the Public Health Service, Federal Security Agency.
