Montana
Montana’s forgotten ‘Silver Star’: WWI combat nurse finally gets her due … 106 years later • Daily Montanan
The dog tags of Elizabeth D. Sandelius (Photo courtesy of Ed Saunders).
This Veterans Day will be a little different than the others for Elizabeth Dorothy “Sandy” Sandelius.
Even though she died decades ago, after living what her family describes as a full life mostly spent in California, the Montana-native and World War I hero — and her family — can now say: She has a Silver Star, a medal awarded to those who served heroically during combat.
As one of many Montana women who answered the military’s call for service during World War I as a trained nurse with the Red Cross, Sandelius shipped overseas, volunteered for combat duty, and served on front-line hospitals, nearly losing her life several times. She returned to America with little fanfare and got married to a man whom she secretly wed before deploying, both never knowing if they’d see each other again.
They did. And they raised a family. But even that family, who knew her simply as “Granny,” had no idea that among the records of battlefield heroics, she stood out. According to her relatives, she never recounted her experiences of the field hospital or the wounded.
It was a decade-long journey by one of Montana’s best contemporary historians that culminated in a small ceremony in Los Angeles last year, where Sandelius was awarded the honor, even though many nurses during the “Great War” never got the same recognition as their male military counterparts.
In fact, in what may be a cruel historic irony: Sandelius’ name may have been more remembered had she been killed in action rather than just serving in it. The names of the fallen dead were remembered, often chiseled in the stone of memorials and written in the books of military history.
However, Sandelius’ story follows a common trajectory: Small town girl who becomes a nurse, only to have the country enter into a great global war. Edward Saunders, who has done extensive history of Montana women in the military, especially during the first half of the twentieth century in his book, “Knapsacks and Roses,” said when America entered into the war, there were more nurses in Montana than the military, which only had about 400 (at the time, there were 500 in the Treasure State). The Department of War would send out a call for more than 14,000.
Sandelius answered that call, not once, but three times. She volunteered to be a nurse for the military; she volunteered to go to overseas; and then she volunteered to go to the front lines. None of those things were required.
But it would be her service on the battlefield, in a field hospital that wasn’t much more than a tent, during some of the most intense fighting where she caught the notice of the commanders.
In July and August 1918, Sandelius was assigned to the U.S. 28th Division, which was helping the French infantry stave off German attacks, including those with lethal gas. During the Oise-Ainse offensive and the Second Battle of the Marne, the 28th sustained more than 14,000 casualties.
Sandelius was assigned to Field Hospital 112, near Cohan, about 60 miles from Paris. Saunders recounts that the tented field hospital would receive more than 5,000 wounded and perform more than 200 surgeries.
But on Aug. 10, the Germans stepped up the attacks, and the field hospital was caught.
Even after military commanders had ordered the nurses to withdraw to three miles, Sandelius refused to leave the side of the injured and sick.
“For eight consecutive days and nights, she stayed with her patients, enduring enemy artillery and aerial bombardment in dire and deadly conditions,” Saunders wrote.
Her life could have ended in a multitude of ways during those harrowing hours, but two coincidences should have killed her. Both times, a German warplane — military aviation was still in its infancy — dropped a bomb near the tented hospital, only to have them both fail to explode. One landed approximately 15 feet from her.
While she would survive on a combination of luck and steely determination, Sandelius and other nurses would stay on long after the war’s end on Nov. 11, 1918, helping to care for the sick and wounded.
She returned to the United States in 1919, alive and with little other fanfare. Few even know that she and her husband, Stillwater County soldier C.B. Benbow, had fallen madly in love just prior to entering into the war. Not knowing where they’d end up, or if either would make it out of the worldwide conflict alive, they secretly wed two weeks before she left.
The marriage had to be done secretly, or she’d likely not be accepted for the war effort. On all of her war records, including her dog tags, she remained Elizabeth D. Sandelius, No. 12660, of the American Expeditionary Forces.
In reality, she was Elizabeth D. Benbow.
After the war, she returned to her husband, C.B., who was trained as an early aviation pilot, but never left the states during the war. Sandelius died in May 1983, never knowing her battlefield legacy would be remembered. She was buried in Los Angeles’ National Cemetery.
It was Saunders, while researching his book about Montana women and their involvement in World War I, who discovered Sandelius’ story.
“From the centennial of World War One about 10 years go, I first met her in the dusty archives of the Montana state library among many records of Montana women who went to war in 1917,” Saunders said. “As I looked at Elizabeth’s service record in war-torn France, I couldn’t help but think, ‘This gal was in some bad stuff.’ I wanted to find more about her. My walk with her began.”
His inspiration would lead him to research more of her life, and he believed that U.S. military officials had overlooked awards that she more than deserved.
It took nearly a decade of research and a writing campaign. Saunders was able to track down the grandchildren of Sandelius, themselves old enough to be grandparents. They were shocked to learn about “Granny’s” history, and proud that their grandmother, whom they remembered warmly, was also a hero.
They offered letters of support in Saunders’ campaign to earn her recognition, including sending Sandelius’ dog-tags and photos. And they were shocked when the U.S. Army accepted their case for Sandelius receiving the Silver Star.
Saunders, a retired Army colonel who served in combat himself, remembers calling the family when the letter from the U.S. Army arrived.
“We both had tears in our eyes,” Saunders said.
Sandelius was among the first four American servicewomen in the American military history, all WWI Army Nurse Corps nurse, to have been awarded the Silver Star medal for valor in combat.
“The greatest tragedy that can befall an American serviceman — or woman — is not that they may be killed in action, that’s the greatest sacrifice. The greatest tragedy is they may be forgotten: Forgotten in life and forgotten in death by the very same nation they — and I — swore and oath to defend, even at the cost of our lives,” Saunders said. “In the words of the ancient Greeks, Elizabeth helped make gentle the horror which mankind often inflicts upon itself.”
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BOZEMAN — The Montana State men fell to Denver on Saturday 75-73 in Worthington Arena.
The Pioneers were able to score with less than two seconds remaining, and hold onto the lead and grab the road win.
Davian Brown and Jed Miller led the Cats scoring with 16 points each. Denver’s Jeremiah Burke led all scorers with 23 points.
Up next, Montana State is at Stanford on Wednesday.
For full highlights, click the video reel above.
It definitely wasn’t on the Joe Pisarcik level, but the result was the same nonetheless.
While trying to stop the clock with only seconds remaining, Eastern Washington quarterback Jake Schakel fumbled the ball on a spike attempt with his team at the Montana 5-yard line. A scrum ensued, with players from both teams trying to pounce on the ball. EWU’s Marcus Lloyd ultimately wound up with it at the 10, but the clock had run out.
The Grizzlies’ 29-24 win improved their record to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big Sky. Montana came into the game ranked No. 3 in the committee rankings and No. 2 in the FCS coaches poll. Eastern Washington dropped to 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the Big Sky.
THE SPIKE IS FUMBLED 🤯@MontanaGrizFB holds on pic.twitter.com/n9qm9bjxap
— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) November 8, 2025
Schakel, a redshirt freshman making his first start, was trending toward being the hero. Moments earlier, Schakel threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Cole Pruett with 1:01 to play. Eastern Washington then recovered the onside kick.
Four Schakel pass completions and a 15-yard penalty pushed Eastern Washington to the Montana 5. But the clock was ticking and the Eagles had no timeouts left. On third-and-1 with seven seconds left, Schakel took the snap and tried to spike the ball, which would have stopped the clock and given his team one final play to go for the win. But he didn’t get a good grasp of the ball, and it slipped out of his hands and onto the ground. Game over.
Despite the game-ending gaffe, Schakel had a strong day, completing 43 of 63 passes for 451 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“I’m proud of the team, in all three phases,” Schakel told the Spokesman-Review. “No moral victories. We were 15 feet away.”
“We just couldn’t collect ourselves enough to be able to execute in that moment, and that’s unfortunate,” Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best said. “We’re not going to reflect on that one play and wonder ‘what if,’ because there are 59 minutes and 56 seconds we played outstanding football.”
“I know everybody on defense is really proud of Jake and the way he played,” Eagles linebacker Read Sunn said. “You can’t hang your hat on one play. There is never a football game that comes down to one play.”
Montana quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns.
Montana enters the game on a roll, looking to keep its unblemished record intact after a pair of consecutive road wins and a bump in the rankings.
After a slow start to their season, the Eagles fly over Lookout Pass seeking their first win in Missoula since 2017 as winners of three of their last four, and four of their last six including a ranked win over Idaho in Cheney.
Kickoff from Washington-Grizzly Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
WATCH: The Grizzlies can be seen on Montana Television Network stations around the state again this week, with the EWU matchup available on basic cable, satellite options, free-to-air channels, and online streaming.
This week’s game will be shown on KPAX in Missoula and Kalispell, KTVH in Helena, and The Spot – MTN around the rest of the state. The Spot – MTN is a new independent television network that serves as the secondary home of Big Sky Conference games and will carry specific UM games in specific markets.
The Spot – MTN is available around the state free-to-air for viewers with antennas. It is also available on Spectrum Cable, TCT West, Montana Opticom, Access Montana, DIRECTV, the DIRECTV streaming platform, and FUBO TV.
ESPN+ will again serve as the primary streaming home of Montana Athletics this season.
In the booth are veteran play-by-play announcer Trey Bender, joined by former Grizzly All-American Jordan Tripp who serves as analyst. Kyle Hansen will report from the sidelines. For complete broadcast details visit GoGriz.com/WhereToWatch.
LISTEN: “Voice of the Griz” Riley Corcoran is in his tenth season behind the mic at Montana and is once again set to bring you all the Grizzly action over the airwaves on the Grizzly Sports Radio Network and its fifteen affiliate stations around the state.
“Grizzly Gameday” starts two hours before kickoff each Saturday with the official pregame radio show featuring Ace Sauerwein and Denny Bedard before Corcoran and longtime color commentator Greg Sundberg take over 30 minutes to kickoff.
Griz fans outside the radio footprint can stream all of Montana’s broadcasts on their mobile device LIVE and FREE of charge with the Varsity Network App, powered by Learfield and Sidearm Sports.
SERIES HISTORY: Dating back to 1938, Montana and Eastern Washington have played each other 50 times, with the Griz holding a commanding 31-18-1 record in that span. UM’s record improves in home games as well at 19-6-1 in Missoula and 13-16 in Washington-Grizzly Stadium since it opened in 1986.
The Griz enter Saturday’s contest as winners in four of the last five meetings against the Eagles with three-straight wins at home dating back to 2019. Bobby Hauck has gotten the best of EWU for the better part of his 14 years at UM with a 10-2 record against the regional foe.
LAST MEETING: Hauck and the Grizzlies made a little history in the series last season when UM earned its first win on the red turf at EWU in 2024. It took everything Montana had and an all-time night from the offense, to leave Cheney with a 52-49 win. The Grizzlies totaled 701 yards, the second-most in program history, to outpace the Eagles in a late-night shootout.
There were gutsy fourth down calls, trick plays from both sides, surprise onside kicks, and so much more as the two teams combined for over 100 points and 1,252 total yards. An uber-balanced Grizzly offense was on display as Montana passed for 364 yards and ran for 337 to eclipse the 700-yard mark.
///GRIZ TRACKS///
NINE-AND-OH-YEAH: Montana remains unbeaten at 9-0 this week, UM’s first unbeaten streak to start a season this long since 2009 when the Griz went 14-1 with the only loss occurring in the FCS title game to Villanova. The Griz have had a 9-0 start just six times in program history. The first two were back in 1969 and ’70 when the Griz finished the regular season 10-0 before dropping their only game in the Camillia Bowl without the use of several starters both years as back-to-back Big Sky champions. They’ve also gone at least 9-0 in ’96, ’02, ’07, and ’09.
As Montana returns to UM this week at 6-0 at home, the Griz are looking to remain undefeated in Missoula for the 14th time in Washington-Grizzly Stadium since 1986. Most recently the Griz went 9-0 at home in the 2023 run to the national championship.
GRIZ IN THE POLLS: After a wild week of college football and FCS upsets abound, the Griz rose up a place to No. 2 in both the media poll and the coaches’ poll on Monday. Previous No. 2 Tarleton St. fell to Abilene Christian, previous No. 4 South Dakota St. fell at home to unranked Indiana State (who the Griz beat 63-20), and Idaho State went on the road and beat previous No. 6 UC Davis to shake up the league and national standings.
Montana remains the highest-ranked of three Big Sky team, with MSU now at No. 3 and Davis at No. 11. With three games remaining in the regular season, nine-win Montana is positioned well for an all-important first round bye in the FCS playoffs should the Griz continue their winning ways.
GRIZ IN THE RATINGS: Montana sits at No. 82 overall in this week’s Sagarin Ratings and No. 4 in the FCS with a 66.52 rating, behind two teams with at least one loss, and just ahead of Navy at No. 83 which lost its first game over the weekend.
UM is the No. 3 rated team in the FCS in this week’s Massey Ratings ahead of SDSU, Tarleton, and North Dakota.
The Sagarin and Massey ratings are computer calculations that take into account strength of schedule, among other variables, to rank teams, and can be used in tiebreaking scenarios for championships and the postseason.
Montana’s overall strength of schedule according to NCAA metrics comes in at No. 25 this week at .535 and increases to No. 15 in the FCS against past opposition at .569.
OFFENSIVE OUTBURSTS: With the business end of the calendar officially in front of them, the Griz enter the last three games of the regular season with one of the most potent and versatile offenses in the FCS.
Led by a veteran offensive line, coordinator Brent Pease‘s offense is a three-headed monster, able to attack opposing defenses in a variety of ways, with a variety of weapons. It stacks up to the No. 1 total offense in the Big Sky at an average of 482 yards per game – the fourth best mark in the FCS.
– The Griz scored their 50th total touchdown this season early in the fourth quarter at Weber State. With three regular season games to go and an average of over five TD’s per game – the seventh-best average in in the FCS – Montana’s offense is on pace to be the most potent of the last decade, chasing 2019’s total TD count of 69.
• Keali’i Ah Yat has been dealin’. Plain and simple.
Just four yards shy of his fifth 300-plus yard passing game of the season, Ah Yat torched Weber State for two passing touchdowns and ran for another in Montana’s 38-17 road win in Ogden – UM’s first in over a decade.
The sophomore completed 15 of 27 passes for 296 yards and added 16 more on the ground for 312 yards of total offense while responsible for 18 of UM’s 38 points. In just three quarters of play, he paced Montana to 522 yards of total offense – the third-highest output for the Griz this season – with zero turnovers. Here are some other highlights:
– He now leads the FCS in passing yards with 2,534 – the sixth-most in all D-I football – in a balanced offense that also boasts one of the nation’s top running backs. He also leads the Big Sky in passing TDs with 19, passing YPG at 281, and points responsible for at 138.
– His current passing completion percentage this season is .669, as of now the fifth-best season in program history. He sits six places ahead of his dad Brian’s 1998 season where he completed .642 percent of his passes.
– He’s now thrown just three interceptions to 15 touchdown passes in the last seven games. Despite throwing four picks in the first two games as he adjusted to being a sophomore starter, his pass efficiency rating of 161 is still top 15 in the FCS.,
• Eli Gillman became just the fifth Grizzly to ever cross the 3,000-career yard mark on Saturday, and he still has a year to play. The junior powered his way to 122 rushing yards and a TD at Weber State to mark his fifth 100-plus yard game this season.
– He now leads the Big Sky with 965 yards rushing this season (6th in the FCS), needing just 35 more yards to post the second 1,000-yard season of his career.
– He also leads the league and is fourth nationally in total points scored (90 – 12 shy of his season total last year). He’s also the active career leader in the FCS in rushing TDs with 41 and is third is just eight yards from moving into second as the fcs active career leader in rushing.
• Michael Wortham is another active career leader in the FCS for UM in all-purpose yards, despite having a relatively quiet game at WSU. With 162.2 per game, he’s the leader in the Big Sky and second nationally in all-purpose yards.
As he gets set to face his old team, he enters the week as the No. 2 rated wide receiver in D-I (FCS & FBS) by Pro Football Focus with a 90.4 offensive grade
• Freshman Brooks Davis was Montana’s leading receiver at Weber State with four catches for 83 yards, again bumping him up the all-time Grizzly freshman season list.
With 33 grabs for 480 yards this season he’s UM’s second-leading receiver, a top 10 overall receiver in the Big Sky, and the No. 6 freshman receiver in the FCS. He needs
OTHER SATUDAY STARS
• Clay Oven helped hold Weber State’s run game to its second-lowest output of the season with a team-high six total tackles (four solo) and a quarterback hurry. The Grizzly D held WSU to 114 rushing yards, their lowest total in the last seven games and the fewest since opening the season against James Madison.
• Tanner Huff made a big impact on special teams, putting in three solo tackles to help hold the Weber State punt return team to just 36 yards and kickoff return team to 23 yards. The senior from Butte has totaled 18 tackles this year, 12 of which have been solo – the 10th most on the team.
• Blake Bohannon hauled in three catches for 131 yards receiving at Weber State and his first touchdown as a Grizzly. His 131 yards are, by a single yard, the second-most in a game this season for any Grizzly after Wortham had 132 yards against Sacred Heart. It’s also a top 10 mark in the Big Sky this season.
• Micah Harper forced and recovered a WSU fumble on the first Wildcat play of the game to get UM’s offense rolling. He also logged a pass breakup and a half-TFL with three total tackles in his best game as a Grizzly to date.
HAUCK HISTORY: It seems like Bobby Hauck is passing new milestones every week as one of the longest tenured coaches in college football, and this week a big one is in sight.
Entering the EWU game, Hauck needs just one more win in conference play to tie Jerome Souers’ Big Sky record of 85 wins in league play during his 21 seasons at Northern Arizona. After the UM win at Weber, Hauck now has 84 wins in conference play. He’s already the Big Sky’s winningest overall coach of all-time, entering the week at 147 career wins at UM.
Appropriately, the win at Weber was also the 37th Big Sky win in his second tenure as Grizzly head coach since 2018.
THE GAMES IN NOVEMBER… Are the ones they remember. Big man month has arrived for the Griz, and they have seen plenty of success in the business end of the season over the year. Under Hauck, the Griz are now 43-10 in November after beating Weber State on Nov. 1 and 26-5 in the month at home.
CAN’T WIN WIHTOUT THE BALL: With a pair of takeaways at Weber State to go +2 in turnovers on the day, Montana enters the EWU game at +6 on the season in the all-important turnover differential.
The Grizzly defense has turned the ball over 15 times this season to just nine giveaways, one of the lowest totals in modern program history. That ranks UM first in the Big Sky conference this week in turnover margin and 11th nationally – a mark that has been slowly improving as the season has worn on.
After starting the year -2 in the turnover differential, the Griz opened the season bottom of the Big Sky and 83rd in the FCS in margin, a mark that has transformed into the best in the league over time. UM also leads the Big Sky and is 15th nationally in turnovers gained.
The Griz have made the most of their takeaways as well, scoring 52 points this season while allowing just 14 scored off turnovers.
BALL SECURITY: With just nine giveaways this season (seven interceptions and two fumbles), Montana is having an historic season in terms of holding onto the ball – paramount to any team’s success.
Over the past 30 years the Griz have averaged 12 picks per season, or roughly one per game. UM enters the game against EWU with just seven in nine games, a mark trending toward one of the best in program history.
The fumble count is where the Griz are really shining, dropping just two balls this season. The modern program record is four fumbles in a season set back in 2014, while UM has averaged nearly 10 drops per season in the last 30 years.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: Montana returns home after two-straight weeks on the road riding a streak of six-straight sellouts at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, with each attendance tally sitting among the top 20 biggest crowds in stadium history.
Despite seven other games in the FCS selling as many as 44-69,000 tickets this season (mostly among traditional SWAC rivalries in NFL stadiums), Montana remains the subdivision leader in average and accumulative attendance. 158,513 fans have crossed the turnstiles at UM this season, an average of 26,419 per game – 104.77 percent of the Washington-Grizzly Stadium’s capacity.
Known as one of the loudest environments in college football, Montana fans have helped cause nine false start penalties on visiting teams this season in WGS.
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