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Flying Nurses CBI


Legion Para
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Legion Para

Does anyone have information on the Flying Nurses who served in the CBI? How many? What was their parent unit? Where were they stationed?

 

How many other variations of their SSI are known to exist?

post-151929-0-86042700-1395525252.jpg

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I've never seen these before, but I wonder-- Are they even US? Since the 1930s, the usual term for aviation nurses was "Flight Nurse", and "Flying Nurse" doesn't sound right. It sounds more British than American.

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I've never seen these before, but I wonder-- Are they even US? Since the 1930s, the usual term for aviation nurses was "Flight Nurse", and "Flying Nurse" doesn't sound right. It sounds more British than American.

 

Note the similarity to the US CBI patch?

 

Do you recall that the Brits were bent that the Jingpaw/Kachin Rangers patches featured "USA" on them in what the Brits considered their theater? So the "USA" was cut off the patch, the blue section w/ lettering was cut and the patches turned around?

 

Were you aware that the American Red Cross wore patches similar to this, and thus, the CBI patch? Since the ARC is a civlian organization, I know little about them - but perhaps one of the members here has more info - perhaps the nurses were part of the ARC and not a miltiary unit?

 

There is no documentation, textual or photographic, to suggest the Brits wore anything similar to the US CBI patches.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Austin_Militaria

Flying Nurse in the Red Cross is the most logical since the two patches posted are identical. Would there have been AAC Flight Nurses Flying around in the CBI area during the war?

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Would there have been AAC Flight Nurses Flying around in the CBI area during the war?

 

There definitely were nurses and flight nurses in the CBI! In fact, thirteen flight nurses died in weather-related crashes while on duty. I believe it was the 803rd Medical Air Evac that had flight nurses.

 

A small number of Army nurses were stationed in Army hospitals in China, Burma, and India throughout 1943 and 1944, where they treated the American and Chinese troops who were pushing into southern China along the Ledo Road.

 

Nurses stationed in isolated jungle hospitals in the Burma-India theater worked under primitive conditions in an extremely trying climate. Many served in the theater longer than the traditional two-year assignment and suffered from low morale. They performed a necessary task but often received little recognition in this demanding but forgotten theater of war.

 

I have the book, “No Time For Fear”, which I believe features a story about a nurse in the CBI. I will have to look again tonight.

 

Look here for more info:

 

http://cbi-theater-2.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-2/hospitals/_cbi_hospitals.html

 

...Kat

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