Capt. Sue Dauser became the first woman promoted to captain in the U.S. Navy in 1942. A 1914 graduate of the California School of Nursing, she became a Navy nurse in 1917 and served in the U.S. and in Scotland during World War I, holding the grade of chief nurse for most of that period. Following the War, she was placed in charge of nursing activities at the U.S. Naval Hospital at San Diego, California. During the 1920s, Dauser served aboard several ships and in overseas, as well as U.S. facilities. She tended to President Warren G. Harding during his fatal illness in 1923. Dauser served as the fifth Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps from 1939-1945, and guided the Navy Nurse Corps through WWII. She retired from the Navy in 1945 after 28 years of service.