Clara Adams-Ender facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Clara Adams-Ender
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Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender
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| Birth name | Clara Leach |
| Born | July 11, 1939 Willow Spring, North Carolina |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ |
United States Army |
| Years of service | 1961–1993 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Commands held | Fort Belvoir United States Army Nurse Corps |
| Awards | Army Distinguished Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit Meritorious Service Medal (4) Army Commendation Medal |
| Other work | Management consultant |
Clara Adams-Ender (née Leach; born July 11, 1939) is a retired officer from the United States Army. She was the Chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps from September 1987 to August 1991.
Clara Adams-Ender made history several times. She was the first woman to earn a master's degree in military studies from the United States Army Command and General Staff College. She was also the first African-American nurse officer to graduate from the United States Army War College. When she retired in 1993, she was in charge of Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia. In 2001, she wrote a book about her life called My Rise to the Stars: How a Sharecropper's Daughter Became an Army General.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Clara Leach was born on July 11, 1939, in Willow Spring, North Carolina. She grew up with nine brothers and sisters. Her mother was Caretha Bell (Sapp) Leach. Her father, Otha Leach, was a sharecropper, which means he farmed land owned by someone else and paid rent with a share of his crops. Her family lived on a tobacco farm in Wake County, North Carolina.
Clara went to Fuquay Springs Consolidated High School. She graduated at age sixteen as the second-best student in her class. She then attended North Carolina A&T State University, which is a special type of college called a historically black university. While there, she took part in the Greensboro sit-ins, which were protests for civil rights.
Leach joined the United States Army to help pay for her nursing school education. After she finished nursing school in 1961, she became a second lieutenant in the United States Army Nurse Corps. This meant she was officially an officer in the Army's nursing branch.
Military Career
After graduating, Clara Leach worked at Brooke Army Medical Center. In 1961, she became a staff nurse at the hospital at Fort Dix. While there, she also joined a special program for intensive care at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center.
In 1963, she moved from Fort Dix to work at the 121st Evacuation Hospital in South Korea. An evacuation hospital is a type of military hospital that moves with the troops. She later took classes at Fort Sam Houston and became an instructor there. She worked at Fort Sam from 1964 to 1967.
After 1967, she went back to college to earn a master's degree in medical-surgical nursing from the University of Minnesota's School of Nursing. During this time, she married James Adams. They later divorced, but she kept his last name.
Adams started teaching at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1969. In 1974, she became the Director of Nursing at Fort George G. Meade. The next year, she attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College. She graduated in 1976 and was the first woman to earn a degree in military studies from that college.
In 1978, she was sent to Frankfurt, Germany. She started as an assistant chief in the Department of Nursing at the 97th General Hospital. By the time she left in 1981, she had become the chief. That same year, she was promoted to colonel. Also in 1981, she married Heinz Ender. After her time in Germany, she returned to the United States.
Now known as Adams-Ender, she worked hard to recruit more nurses into the Army. She moved to Fort Sheridan and led the nurse recruitment program there. At the same time, she attended the United States Army War College. She graduated in 1982, becoming the first African American nurse to graduate from that college. She left Fort Sheridan in 1984. Besides recruiting, she also worked to get better pay for nurses.
In 1991, Adams-Ender was chosen to be the Commanding General of Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She also served as the Deputy Commanding General of the United States Military District of Washington. She held these important roles until she retired in 1993.
After Retirement
Clara Adams-Ender retired from the Army in 1993. She then started her own company that provides advice to other businesses. She was also the former president of an organization called Caring About People With Enthusiasm. In 2001, she published her memoir, My Rise to the Stars: How a Sharecropper's Daughter Became an Army General.
Personal Life
Adams-Ender became a Catholic.
In the 2024 United States presidential election, Adams-Ender supported Kamala Harris.
Honors and Awards
In 1996, Working Woman magazine recognized her as one of 350 women who "changed the world." She has received many important military awards. These include the Army Distinguished Service Medal (twice), the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (four times), and an Army Commendation Medal.
Adams-Ender also received the Roy Wilkins Meritorious Service Award and the Gertrude E. Rush Award for Leadership. In 2019, she was honored by being added to the United States Army Women's Hall of Fame.
Adams-Ender is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, which is a Greek-letter organization for women.
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Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender
