After being wounded in Italy, Cook received the Purple Heart, making her the first woman in the U.S. Army to hold both the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.
Following her wounding by German artillery at a field hospital in Italy in early 1944, Cordelia Cook was awarded the Purple Heart Medal, the U.S. military decoration given to those wounded or killed while serving. Combined with her earlier Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service, this made her the first woman in the U.S. Army to receive both decorations.
This dual distinction was historically remarkable. At the time, women serving in the military—particularly nurses—were rarely recognized with combat-related honors on par with their male counterparts, despite frequently working in comparably dangerous conditions. Cook's receipt of both the Bronze Star and Purple Heart provided powerful evidence that women in uniform were facing—and surviving—the same hazards as soldiers on the front lines.
Her dual recognition was widely reported in period press and later cited by military historians as a milestone in the acknowledgment of women's wartime sacrifice and valor. It helped shift public and institutional perceptions of the roles and risks undertaken by Army nurses, some of whom served within range of enemy artillery and aerial bombardment.
Cook's example contributed to a broader legacy of expanding recognition for servicewomen, setting a precedent referenced in subsequent decades as more women earned combat-related honors in the U.S. armed forces.