Service, courage and sacrifice are not based on social status, gender, or the circumstances of where or how you grew up. A moral base often draws one to service but the size of one’s heart and commitment is critical to how one reacts in the chaos of this world.

Family and Status

Cora Van Norden was the daughter of a wealthy New York financier. The family had a long history in New York. The first family member to arrive in this country was Pieter Casparszen Van Naerden. He first appeared in the historical record in 1621 with other Huguenots and Walloons petitioning the British ambassador at the Hague for permission to emigrate to Virginia. A better life was sought in the wilds of America, where religious freedom could be practiced. This was 150 plus years before the Revolutionary War with Britain. A successful trading business with the West Indies and Europe was the foundation of family wealth. Over the century, the Van Norden family simplified its name, and did very well in trading and financial markets.

Cora’s parents were Warner and Martha Ann Philips Van Norden. Her siblings were Emma Philips, Theodore Langdon and Warner Montiagnie. The roots of religious freedom ran deep in the family. Older sister Emma, who was only 5 years old when Cora was born, set an example for her sister in service.

The Van Norden girls had virtue and service instilled in them, notwithstanding their privilege. Cora’s father was a man of deep religious convictions, an active member of the Madison Avenue Reformed Church, and the superintendent of the Sunday school. This millionaire had deep religious roots that entangled his daughters.

The family success in banking and trust companies was evidenced by her father Warner Van Norden’s purchase of a brownstone at East 62nd Street. It was in the heart of the financial district and society circles.

The religious and prosperous family was the sort that had pretentious books written about it and was the subject of the society pages in New York papers. The proud family members wrote glowingly of the family in books such as “The Van Norden Family, Three Hundred Years In America, 1623-1923” by Theodore Langdon Van Norden and “Cora Van Norden in the War” by Theodore Langdon Van Norden, printed in 1924.

Salvation Army’s Mission

The Salvation Army traces its roots to England in 1852 when William Booth abandoned the concept of the traditional church pulpit in favor of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ directly to the people. Walking the streets of London, he preached to the poor, the homeless, the hungry, and the destitute. The East End of London in 1865 was the proving ground of this unconventional Christian mission about an army saving souls among thieves, prostitutes, gamblers, and drunkards.

From that point onward, converts became soldiers of Christ and were known then, as now, as Salvationists. Their message spread rapidly, gaining a foothold in America and soon after Canada, Australia, France, Switzerland, India, South Africa, Iceland, and Germany. Today, The Salvation Army is active in virtually every corner of the world and serves in over 100 countries, offering the message of God’s healing and hope to all those in need. The Army’s website claims: “In 2023, The Salvation Army helped nearly 27.5 million in the U.S. overcome poverty, addiction, and economic hardships through a range of social services. By providing food, emergency disaster relief, rehabilitation services, clothing, and shelter, The Salvation Army is meeting human needs without discrimination at 6,401 centers of operation across the country.”

The Salvation Army uses military-style uniforms and ranks to reflect its organizational structure, demonstrate its commitment to service, and identify its members. The uniforms provide a sense of identity and belonging for members. The uniforms are a sign of the Salvation Army's calling to care for the lost, feed the hungry, and comfort the hurting. Officers (ordained ministers) wear red trim on their uniforms, while soldiers (church members) wear blue trim. The Salvation Army's uniforms originated in 19th-century London and have evolved.

The good works of the army among the least of society must have been attractive to the Van Norden girls. Older sister Emma was first pulled into the army sphere. She joined the Salvation Army in October 1892 as a result of the influence of Mrs. Maude Ballington Booth, a British citizen. In 1882, Ballington Booth, then known as Charlesworth, became a companion of Miss Catherine Booth in organizing a branch of the Salvation Army in Paris. She stayed with the Booth family and worked in the London slums and elsewhere until her marriage to the second son of the founder of the Salvation Army, Ballington Booth, in 1886. In 1887, she took command of the Salvation Army forces in the United States alongside her husband, Ballington Booth. She was also active and successful in slum mission work in New York City. In 1895, Booth became a naturalized American citizen. In 1896, Ballington and Maud left the Salvation Army after a dispute with founder, General William Booth, to co-found the Volunteers of America.

In the beginning, Emma Van Norden joined the auxiliary army, in which her enthusiasm soon won her the admiration and esteem of her associates. Later, she became one of the regular members, and after several years’ experience as an auxiliary organizer, she became a private secretary to Gen. William Booth. In carrying out her army work, Miss Van Norden needed to travel extensively. It was said of her that she had visited every land where the army had a post, and this means that she had been practically all over the world. She was promoted to the post of Secretary to Gen. Booth after she graduated from the International Training Garrison in London. Much of Miss Van Norden's time was spent in Europe. When she was in this country, she lived in New York. However, at home or abroad, she was loyal to the Salvation Army. She would never go anywhere unless the army uniform was recognized, and this attitude cost her many friends in the society circles in which she had been accustomed to moving.

On August 23, 1906, while in Scotland, Emma suffered a tragic and ultimately fatal accident. The New York Times reported, “a party of American tourists (when) their horses bolted at the foot of a hill, overturning the carriage and throwing out the passengers with much force. Miss Emma Van Norden, who is the daughter of Warner Van Norden, a financier of New York City, and who for some years was private secretary to Gen. William Booth, and showed much practical interest in the Salvation Army, was pitched against a dike, sustaining a fractured skull, a portion of the brain protruding. She was conveyed to a neighboring residence, where medical assistance was immediately given to her and where last night she was immediately operated on. Dr. Renton, a prominent surgeon of Glasgow, who is attending to her, reported tonight that she was doing fairly well.” At the age of 35, she died from her injuries within a week of the accident.

Her younger sister Cora, was 30 and profoundly impacted. Cora had lost her mother when she was 14, her sister when 30, and her father in 1914. This set her free to help the war effort in Europe, leaving for England in 1915. The American involvement in WWI was still a year away, but it would also have a profound impact on Cora.

Salvation Army Service in WWI

The first war engulfing the world became an inflection point for the Salvation Army. It sent an American Salvation Army officer to France in June 1917 to survey the needs. President Woodrow Wilson’s office supported the effort and provided introductions to the American French Ambassador and General John “Black Jack” Pershing. The General was in charge of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) fighting in France. He was an outside-the-box thinker open to ideas like American bilingual female telephone operators, the “Hello Girls,” and help from outside groups like the Salvation Army, YMCA, Red Cross, and women physicians. That history is documented in Lettie Gavin’s 2006 book, “American Women in World War I – The Also Served.”

When World War I arrived, it was a perfect opportunity for the Salvation Army to practice what it preached. The Salvation Army provided many services to soldiers and sailors during World War I, including food, clothing, mending services, ambulances, and chaplains. The Salvation Army sent 250 female volunteers to the front lines who served food, including doughnuts, to soldiers. These volunteers became known as "Doughnut Lassies" because they used infantry helmets to fry their treats. The Salvation Army set up huts near the front lines. The army provided hospital and graveside visits. The Salvation Army used leftover army field kitchens to run public kitchens after the war. A GI could transfer funds or receive funds by deposit with the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army archivist explained the Army started its WWI effort with a $25,000 loan and ultimately raised millions of dollars for the cause when the American public started getting letters from the boys over there about the great work of the Army. It is estimated that about 500 men and women went to France from the United States with the Salvation Army. Most were officers in the Salvation Army, but others were just volunteers doing good for God and Country. Those outside the officer ranks were considered “Envoys.” Cora Van Norden was one such Envoy who saw overseas Service.

Cora Van Norden’s Service

The United States did not immediately join in the war effort. However, many Americans found ways to help. Van Norden, as early as 1915, volunteered in the Allied cause for hospital work and crossed to England. Soon she was in France as a member of a nursing staff. The next year she continued her service, but in 1917 the French Ministry of War appointed her Director of the Franco-Serbian Field Hospital and she went to Salónica.

She had personal experience with injury and pain. As a young girl, an accident in the New York woods resulted in a knee injury so severe she had to use crutches for years. Multiple rounds of doctors could not fix the problem. Ultimately a Dr. Percy Turnure, a family friend, had her walking unaided again in half a year. Dr. Turnure went to England and France to provide medical assistance before the American involvement in the war. Cora knew her miracle-working physician had entered the war effort, motivating her to go to assist. Cora was appointed a member of his nursing staff in France.

When the United States finally entered the war, Miss Van Norden joined the Salvation Army in canteen work in France near the front. Soon her organizing ability brought several units under her control. According to her brother, Theodore, Cora’s preference for the Salvation Army was a belief that it was an opportunity to provide “real service” with people who “earnestly expected hard work”. She was not influenced by her sister’s status in the army or that her father had Salvation Army friends, according to her brother in his tribute book to her war service.

The Salvation Army assigned her to work with the 18th U.S. Infantry, 1st Division, and she stayed with them until the war ended. One officer praised her dedication by saying, “Miss Van Norden established her hut so near the front that the big guns were in line with it.” Another described her “exceptional service” when she delivered supplies under fire. She “was fearless and interested only in improving as much as possible the physical comfort of the men.”

Cora’s work did not go unnoticed.

FRANCE, June 28th, 1918.

My dear Miss Van Norden:

Your first note of farewell was received, as well as your note of the 26th, which arrived today and reached me safely. I should have answered the first some time since, had it not been that I find correspondence exceedingly difficult while on this service.

This regiment regrets exceedingly that you will no longer work with it and for it. It certainly owes you a very great debt of gratitude for your unceasing, unselfish and splendid work for the comfort and happiness of the officers and men of the 18th Infantry.

This regiment will never forget you ; your name will always be most closely associated with what we have undergone and done during this war, and we shall always remember you as quite the type of devoted, efficient patriot, whose one idea is work where work is to be done.

I felt quite sure after the first of our several conversations upon the matter that you would never be content to belong to the regiment and not accompany it to the first line. Being a soldier, I understand exactly how you feel, and very much admire you for such feeling. On the other hand, it was not possible. I knew that it would be a question of but a few months before you would leave us.

Wherever you go, I know that you will carry your habitual efficiency and will give comfort and pleasure in your peculiarly fortunate way to other officers and men. They will be as glad to have you as we are sorry to lose you, and this entire regiment will sincerely congratulate the organization to which you go.

The regiment wishes you the best of voyages to the home land, happiness and rest during your stay, and then a safe and quick return to these battlefields where every citizen of your ability and experience is urgently needed.

I am sending you herewith a citation, which will place your name upon the Roll of Honor of this regiment. It is the best way for us to express our appreciation of all that you have done for us.

May God bless you and prosper your work, always .

Ever faithfully yours,
FRANK PARKER

In another letter to Cora, she was praised by Brigadier General F.C. Marshal, “I was caught in traffic and saw you pass. In a group of soldiers standing by my car was one who said: ‘There’s Miss Van Norden.’ God Bless her!”

In early 1918, she returned to America to assist in raising badly needed funds. The archivist's records show that Van Norden then sailed again to Europe on October 1, 1918, and returned 11 months later on September 3, 1919. Two months later, the warring parties had reached an Armistice, a truce vs a surrender, on November 11, 1919. The war work changed Van Norden’s life, as the war did for many.

In June 1918, Major General George Duncan wrote to General McAndrew to suggest that Cora be awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her work. Major Duncan stated, “I consider her calm indifference to danger, her great desire to be of the utmost assistance to our front line troops, was one of the finest examples of heroism that I have encountered and was an inspiration to officers and men.”

In 1919, she was in service at Camp Taylor and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Cora Van Norden's Distinguished Service Cross Citation reads:

GHQ, American Expeditionary Forces, Citation Orders No. 8

By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), Miss Cora Langdon Van Norden, Salvation Army, a United States Civilian, is cited by the Commanding General, American Expeditionary Forces, for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded her. Miss Van Norden distinguished herself by gallantry in action while attached to the 82d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, during operations in the Toul and Montdidier Sectors, France, during February and March 1918, in carrying supplies to the front area under shell fire.

On September 8, 1919 it was announced the French had awarded her the Croix de Guerre. This French “Cross of War” was awarded to individuals who have distinguished themselves by acts of bravery in the fact of the enemy.

In June 1920, in Kentucky, she married Capt. Arthur Philip Coppinger of New Jersey. But her frail body in December 1922 paid the supreme sacrifice of her faithful devotion to a service for the suffering. She was buried back in New York, the state of her ancestors. Her brother wrote that at her funeral, “was a detachment of 18th Infantry, 1st Division, led by a sergeant, each of whom had known Cora in France.”

This society gal was as brave as any army regular. Cora Van Norden did not rely on her social status, wealth, or friends. Instead, her moral compass pointed to duty no matter how far away from a comfortable life.