Irma Dryden

{{Infobox military person

|name=Irma Dryden

|image=

|caption=

|birth_date= {{Birth date|1920|05|28}}

|death_date= {{death date and age|2020|9|17|1920|05|28}}{{cite news |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/obituaries/irma-pete-cameron-dryden-100-nurse-to-tuskegee-airmen/LDMHU46WUVFXFNVK7YAOKTXOI4/|date=2020-09-29 |title=Irma "Pete" Cameron Dryden, 100, nurse to Tuskegee Airmen|first=Martha Ann|last=Tudor|website=ajc.com|accessdate=2020-10-06}}

| spouse= Charles W. Dryden

| children= Charles a.k.a. Thumper Dryden, Keith Dryden, Eric Dryden, George Bingham, Kenneth Bingham, Tony Bingham, Cornelia-Rose White

| birth_place= New York City, New York

| death_place= Canton, Georgia

| placeofburial= Arlington National Cemetery

| placeofburial_label= Place of burial

| nickname= "Pete"

| allegiance=United States of America

| branch=United States Army Nurse Corp

| serviceyears=

| rank=Second Lieutenant

| unit=

| battles=World War II

}}

Irma Cameron Dryden (May 28, 1920 – September 17, 2020) was an American military nurse, best known for her work with the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII. She was involved in the first military wedding at Tuskegee. She went on to be the oldest living Tuskegee Aircorps nurse before her death in 2020 at the age of 100.

Early life

Dryden was born in New York City in 1920. Her father was a dental technician and her mother was a school teacher. Both of Dryden's parents were Jamaican.{{Cite web |title=Tuskegee Army Nurses Project – Irma Cameron |url=http://www.tuskegeearmynurses.info/2019/06/25/irma-cameron-dryden/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |language=en-US}} Dryden's ambition was to become a physician, however, she decided to pursue nursing because she had difficulty accessing the necessary education.{{Cite news |last=Tudor |first=Martha Anne |title=Irma "Pete" Cameron Dryden, 100, nurse to Tuskegee Airmen |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/obituaries/irma-pete-cameron-dryden-100-nurse-to-tuskegee-airmen/LDMHU46WUVFXFNVK7YAOKTXOI4/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |language=English |issn=1539-7459}} She graduated from the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing in 1942.{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nurse-tuskegee-airmen-dies-georgia-100-73311799|date=2020-09-29 |title=Nurse to Tuskegee Airmen dies in Georgia at 100|website=abcnews.com|accessdate=2020-10-06}}

Military career

In 1942, Dryden enlisted as a military nurse and traveled to Alabama with two of her classmates, Alice M. Dunkley and Mary Rickards. Being from New York, Dryden was shocked by the discrimination she and other black nurses faced in the segregated south.{{Cite web |last=The Associated Press |date=2020-09-29 |title=Nurse to Tuskegee Airmen dies in Georgia at 100 |url=https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/09/29/nurse-to-tuskegee-airmen-dies-in-georgia-at-100/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=Air Force Times |language=en}} She recounted in an interview with Tuskegee University that she "didn't eat the whole trip" due to rules requiring black passengers to eat behind a curtain after white passengers had finished.

She married Tuskegee Airman Charles W. Dryden in 1943.{{cite news |url=https://people.com/human-interest/only-living-tuskegee-airmen-nurse-celebrates-100th-birthday/|date=2020-05-29 |title=Only Living Tuskegee Airmen Nurse Who Cared for WWII Cadets Celebrates Her 100th Birthday|website=people.com|accessdate=2020-10-06}} Their wedding was the first military wedding at Tuskegee. The two would eventually divorce after 32 years of marriage but would remain friends until Charles Dryden's death in 2008.

Irma and Charles Dryden's story was mentioned in Tom Brokaw’s An Album of Memories: Personal Histories from the Greatest Generation as well as Charles Dryden's memoirs, A-Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman.

Later life and death

Dryden left the military in 1944. She went on to start a medical lab in New Jersey which she oversaw for over 20 years. In 2013, she became the first honorary member of the Atlanta chapter of the National Black Nurses Association.{{Cite journal |date=2013 |title=Atlanta Black Nurses Association (ABNA) |url=https://www.nbna.org/files/NBNA%20News%20WINTER%202013.pdf |journal=NBNA News: Continuing the Legacy |pages=18}} In 2014, Dryden received a Congressional Gold Medal for her military service.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2014-11-12 |title=94-year-old Tuskegee Airman honored for her service |url=https://thegrio.com/2014/11/12/94-year-old-tuskegee-airman/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=TheGrio |language=en-US}}

Dryden died at the age of 100 in September 2020. She was the oldest living Tuskegee Aircorps nurse at the time of her death.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Obituary for Irma "Pete" Dryden {{!}} Hanley-Shelton Funeral Directors |url=https://www.hanley-shelton.com/obituary/IrmaPete-Dryden |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=Hanley-Shelton Funeral Directors |language=en}}