While a student nurse, Gertrude Kocinski participated in the U. S., World War II Cadet Nursing Corps.

Gertrude Marie Kocinski, born on August 5, 1925, was the daughter of Walter Felix Kocinko and Catherine Pochron of Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. At the time of the 1930 Federal Census, the father was a coal miner.

By 1940, Gertrude had a younger sister, Dorothy, and a brother, Walter, Jr.

Gertrude died on July 30, 1976. She is buried at the Roman Catholic Polish Cemetery of the Transfiguration, Mt. Pleasant.