Clara Leach Adams - Ender Clara Leach Adams - Ender ( born July 11 , 1939 ) is a retired United States Army Nurse Corps commanding officer . She was the first woman to receive her Master ' s Degree in military arts and sciences from the U . S . Army Command and General Staff College . She is also the first African - American nurse corps officer to graduate from the United States Army War College . When she retired , in 1993 , she was serving as commanding officer of Fort Belvoir . Early life and education . Clara Leach Adams - Ender was born in Willow Spring , North Carolina in 1939 . She had nine siblings . Her mother was named Caretha Bell Sapp Leach . Her father , Otha Leach , was a sharecropper and the family lived in Wake County , North Carolina on a tobacco farm . Adams - Ender attended high school at Fuquay Springs Consolidated High School . She graduated when she was sixteen . She was second in her class . She went to college at North Carolina A & T State University . While there , she was a participant in the Greensboro sit - ins . Adams - Ender joined the United States Army in order to pay for her nursing school education . When she graduated , in 1961 , she was named second lieutenant for the United States Army Nurse Corps . Military career . After graduation she worked at Brooke Army Medical Center . In 1961 she became staff nurse at the hospital at Fort Dix . While there , she also participated in an intensive care program at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center . In 1963 , she left her position at Fort Dix to work in South Korea . She worked at the 121st Evacuation Hospital . She attended classes at Fort Sam Houston . She would go on to become an instructor there . She was at Fort Sam from 1964 until 1967 . After 1967 , she received a Master ' s Degree in medical - surgical nursing from the University of Minnesota . She also got married during this time period . She married James Adams . They would divorce within five years . She taught at Walter Reed Army Medical Center starting in 1969 . She became the Director of Nursing at Fort George G . Meade starting in 1974 . The following year she started attending the U . S . Army Command and General Staff College . She graduated in 1976 . She was the first woman to graduate from the college with a degree in military arts and sciences . After graduation , she started working as a hospital inspector at United States Army Health Services Command post at Fort Sam Houston . In 1978 she moved to Frankfurt , Germany , where she started as assistant chief at the Department of Nursing at the 97th General Hospital . She would leave the position as chief in 1981 . She was named colonel . That year , she would re - marry for the second time , and return to the United States to work . Adams - Ender did a lot of nursing recruitment . She relocated to Fort Sheridan and headed the nurse recruitment program there . While working there , she attended United States Army War College . She graduated in 1982 . This made her the first African American nurse corps student to graduate from the college . She left Fort Sheridan in 1984 . Aside from recruitment , she also was active in seeking increased wages for nurses . After retirement . Adams - Ender retired in 1993 . She started a consulting company . She is the former president of Caring About People With Enthusiasm . In 1996 , she was named one of " Working Women " magazine ' s 350 women who " changed the world . " She has been the recipient of the a Legion of Merit award , the United States Army Distinguished Service Medal with an oak leaf cluster , a Commendation Medal , a Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters , the Roy Wilkins Meritorious Service Award , and the Gertrude E . Rush Award for Leadership . She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority .