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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The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 9, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 9 drawing
08-21-24-29, Bonus: 16
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 9 drawing
02-15-22-54-58, Bonus: 04
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
A restraining order has been issued that blocks the Montana Republican Party from enacting new bylaws intended to drive nonconformists…
A restraining order has been issued that blocks the Montana Republican Party from enacting new bylaws intended to drive nonconformists out of the party ranks.
Lewis and Clark County District Judge Michael F. McMahon issued the restraining order Wednesday morning. The order had been requested by county precinct committees and officers suing the state party organization over the new bylaws. The plaintiffs are the Yellowstone County Republican Central Committee, the Choteau County Republican Central Committee, and individual committee members Jeff Essmann, Ted Kronebusch, James Wilson and state Rep. Brad Barker, R-Red Lodge.
At issue are bylaws passed during MTGOP’s June platform convention that the litigating party members say amount to “fraudulent and corrupt practices.” The new bylaws require members to pay $20 in annual membership dues and pledge a loyalty oath, and subject members to removal from elected party positions for nonpayment of dues or for “conduct deemed inconsistent with party purposes,” as determined by executive party party officers. The new bylaws allow charges for removal to be brought by any 20 official Republican Party members.
Montana Republican Party Chairman Art Wittich, the only official spokesperson for the state party, has not responded to voicemails and texts sent to his cell phone Wednesday. Wittich, elected party chairman in June 2025, has long been emphatic about exposing “Democrats disguised as Republicans” — for Wittich a now decade-old battle that spun into a bitter multimillion-dollar war between party hardliners and relative centrists in this spring’s Republican legislative primaries.
The centrists drew the ire of the hardliners in 2025 by collaborating with Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and legislative Democrats to pass a balanced state budget and key pieces of legislation, including increased taxes on second homes and property tax reductions for primary residences and small businesses.
What constitutes disqualifying conduct isn’t fully spelled out in the bylaws, but they do specify that “collaborating with Democrats” in the Legislature, the governor’s office, the courts, or elections can get members disciplined or removed.
The lawsuit alleges that “The 2026 bylaws empower a small group within the party to revoke Republican affiliation from candidates or office holders, undoing primary nominations by the electorate.”
The plaintiffs argue that Montana voters, not party bylaws, should determine who represents the Republican Party in general elections and who represents voting precincts on the publicly elected county-level Republican committees that coordinate local political activity.
The Montana Legislature in 2019 passed a bill protecting publicly elected party precinct committee officers from being arbitrarily removed from office and defined attempts to do so as “fraudulent and corrupt practices.” That law, sparked by Republican Party infighting 10 years ago, is the foundation of the current lawsuit.
There has been a surge of public interest in Republican precinct-level politics following a perceived lack of support by party hardliners for Republican candidates in conservative strongholds like Flathead County, where more than 60 new precinct committeemen and committeewomen were elected in June. That wave of new officers was preceded by Flathead County Republican Central Committee members considering an endorsement of Libertarian Sid Daoud for Kalispell mayor over Republican Kisa Davison in late 2025. The Kalispell mayor’s race is nonpartisan, but Republicans have gone to court to secure the party’s right to endorse candidates in nonpartisan races.
Wittich’s own campaign for precinct committeeman representing Whitefish was a casualty of that new wave of public interest. He lost to Republican Giuseppe “G-man” Caltabiano, who serves on the Whitefish City Council.
Caltabiano’s wife, Roxanne Ross, defeated Candace Wittich, wife of the Republican chair, in the same election.
State law gives precinct officers two-year terms and specifies that they can be removed only for death, written resignation or loss of residency. The new bylaws state that participation in party governance, including service as a precinct official, “is a privilege of association, not a right conferred by public office or candidacy. Members must act in good faith to support the Party’s purpose and must not engage in conduct materially inconsistent with the Party’s interests, including conduct that undermines its platform, policy positions, election operations, or internal governance.”
The recent changes to the party bylaws allow precinct officeholders to be suspended from voting in party matters and replaced by party leadership for noncompliance. Empty precinct seats can be filled by the Republican Party chair.
“Every Republican candidate sells their version of Republicanism to the people in a primary campaign, and the voter chooses which version to buy,” the lawsuit states. “The party cannot dictate what brands of Republicanism are on the market.”
Former MTGOP chair Jeff Essmann, a plaintiff who is also a long-serving precinct officer, said in his affidavit that members of the Republican State Central Committee weren’t given a required notification about attempts to amend the bylaws. He said he would have attended the platform convention and argued against amending the bylaws if he had known.
“The 2026 Bylaws empower any twenty members of the Party to recommend any other member of the Party for expulsion from the party, to be determined by the State Central Committee, even people who do not reside in Yellowstone County and who have never met me,” Essmann said in the affidavit.
Other central committee members produced pre-convention emails about potential changes to the bylaws, but no details about the amendments.
In issuing the order, McMahon indicated that Republicans challenging the bylaws are likely to succeed. He set a July 13 hearing on whether to make the order permanent.
“Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the challenged provisions are inconsistent with Montana election law and constitutional protections governing candidacy, nomination, speech, association, due process, and elected precinct committee representatives,” McMahon ruled.
___
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Copyright
© 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 8, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 8 drawing
12-29-37-43-55, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from July 8 drawing
17-26-31-32-37, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 8 drawing
03-13-16-17, Bonus: 10
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from July 8 drawing
06-27-33-44-69, Powerball: 23
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from July 8 drawing
08-16-17-22-27
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 8 drawing
16-18-43-48-50, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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