Feb. 28, 2019—Elsie Seetoo, a Collington resident who served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps as a first lieutenant during World War II, was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal Feb. 26. She was one of five Chinese-American World War II veterans honored during a ceremony at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. During her service, she trained Chinese soldiers as medical orderlies.
Seetoo, who celebrated her 100th birthday in September at Collington, was the oldest and highest ranked among those honored. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States Congress.
“I’ll wear it when I go out,” an ABC News website article quotes Seetoo referring to her Congressional Gold Medal. “Or maybe, just to impress the other folks that live in the retirement community, I would just wear it once.”
Collington is a Kendal-affiliated retirement community in metro Washington, D.C.