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Pictures of WWII Flight Nurses


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Lt. Suella Bernard tends to patients in one of the two CG-4A gliders before the C-47s arrived. (U.S. Air Force photo)

 

flight nurse Normandy.jpg

 

 

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I found this very interesting that she is the only nurse known to have participated in a glider combat mission:

 

On March 22, 1945, two CG-4A gliders landed in a clearing near the bridgehead at Remagen, Germany, to evacuate 25 severely injured American and German casualties. Once the gliders were loaded, C-47 transports successfully snatched them from their landing site and towed them to a military hospital in France. In the second glider, 1st Lt. Suella V. Bernard, who had volunteered for the mission, cared for the wounded en route. One of the first two nurses to fly into Normandy after the D-Day invasion, Bernard became the only nurse known to have participated in a glider combat mission during World War II. For this mission, she received the Air Medal.

 

The CG-4A glider with Lt. Suella Bernard in the right-hand seat of the cockpit just as the glider is being snatched by a C-47. (U.S. Air Force photo)

 

Flight nurse glider.jpg

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One of the most celebrated flight nurses of World War II, 1st Lt. Aleda E. Lutz flew 196 missions and evacuated over 3,500 men. In November 1944, during an evacuation flight from the front lines near Lyons, Italy, her C-47 crashed killing all aboard. Awarded the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, she posthumously received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

 

Flight nurse Lutz.jpg

 

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Lt. Aleda E. Lutz (kneeling) attending patients. She had an Army hospital ship and a Veterans Affairs medical center named in her honor. (U.S. Air Force photo)

 

Flight nurse Lutz2.jpg

 

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What some of these women did is amazing:

 

On Sept. 24, 1944, 1st Lt. Mary Louise Hawkins was evacuating 24 patients from the fighting at Palau to Guadalcanal when the C-47 ran low on fuel. The pilot made a forced landing in a small clearing on Bellona Island. During the landing, a propeller tore through the fuselage and severed the trachea of one patient.

 

Hawkins made a suction tube from various items including the inflation tube from a "Mae West." With this contrivance, she kept the man's throat clear of blood until aid arrived 19 hours later. All of her patients survived. For her actions, Hawkins received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

 

Flight nurse Hawkins.jpg

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FLIGHT NURSE'S CREED

 

I will summon every resource to prevent the triumph of death over life.

 

I will stand guard over the medicines and equipment entrusted to my care and ensure their proper use.

 

I will be untiring in the performances of my duties and I will remember that, upon my disposition and spirit, will in large measure depend the morale of my patients.

 

I will be faithful to my training and to the wisdom handed down to me by those who have gone before me.

 

I have taken a nurse's oath, reverent in man's mind because of the spirit and work of its creator, Florence Nightingale. She, I remember, was called the "Lady with the Lamp."

 

It is now my privilege to lift this lamp of hope and faith and courage in my profession to heights not known by her in her time. Together with the help of flight surgeons and surgical technicians, I can set the very skies ablaze with life and promise for the sick, injured, and wounded who are my sacred charges.

 

...This I will do. I will not falter in war or in peace.

 

The Flight Nurse's Creed first appeared in a speech given by Maj. Gen. David N. W. Grant, the Air Surgeon of the U.S. Army Air Forces, on Nov. 26, 1943, to the seventh graduating class of flight nurses of the Army Air Forces School of Air Evacuation at Bowman Field, Ky.

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Rusty,

Good eye! I wonder if it is because the picture was taken in early 1943. I have been trying to find out when the Flight Nurse wings were first established. I believe it would have been later in 1943. Do you know?

 

I found this interesting information in the book "Beyond the Call of Duty - Army Flight Nursing in WWII"

 

"General Grant - on the spur of the moment - realizing that no one had thought of an insignia for the flight nurses, unpinned his own miniature flight surgeon's insignia, and pinned it on the honor graduate remarking that from that moment on, the insignia of the flight nurses would be similar to that of the flight surgeon's with the addition of a small 'N' superimposed".

 

Maybe this is why she has the two inch wing. The honor graduate was Geraldine Dishroon not Gardiner but maybe this explains the 2 inch wing. What do you think?

 

....Kat

 

More excellent images Kat! Thank you for all of your efforts.

 

I agree with you regarding the early use of Flight Surgeon wings by some of those Nurses who graduated before the official Flight Nurse wing was issued. According to Duncan Campbell's book, Flight Surgeon badges were approved for wear on February 11, 1943 (including the two-inch shirt size). But Flight Nurse badges weren't issued until December 15, 1943. That means five classes of Flight Nurses had already graduated before their wings were available for issue.

 

There's nothing like finding dated and authentic photographs to document what was really being worn! Good stuff!

 

 

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I agree with you regarding the early use of Flight Surgeon wings by some of those Nurses who graduated before the official Flight Nurse wing was issued. According to Duncan Campbell's book, Flight Surgeon badges were approved for wear on February 11, 1943 (including the two-inch shirt size). But Flight Nurse badges weren't issued until December 15, 1943. That means five classes of Flight Nurses had already graduated before their wings were available for issue.

 

There's nothing like finding dated and authentic photographs to document what was really being worn! Good stuff!

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the information on when the Flight Nurse badges were issued. You are right that it is very nice to see photos matching the documentation.

 

...Kat

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bootsandbooks

Great photos and great women.

 

I understand the first contingent of flight nurses deployed to North Africa prior to completion of their training..

 

24 flight nurses form the first graduating class at Bowman Field deployed to Guadalcanal aboard U S Army Transport MS Tjisadane arriving at Noumea New Caledonia in mid February 1943.

 

Here is a somewhat humorous account of their passage from the 30 January 1943 ship newspaper, "Salt Water Taffy."

post-22812-0-76339800-1437521689.jpg

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Great photos and great women.

 

I understand the first contingent of flight nurses deployed to North Africa prior to completion of their training..

 

24 flight nurses form the first graduating class at Bowman Field deployed to Guadalcanal aboard U S Army Transport MS Tjisadane arriving at Noumea New Caledonia in mid February 1943.

 

Here is a somewhat humorous account of their passage from the 30 January 1943 ship newspaper, "Salt Water Taffy."

 

Great article! Thanks so much for adding this to the thread....Kat

 

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I have to say these women truly fit the definition of HEROES.

 

That story of 1st Lt Mary Hawkins and the crash landing is incredible!! Thanks for sharing this great info!!

 

Chris

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I have to say these women truly fit the definition of HEROES.

 

That story of 1st Lt Mary Hawkins and the crash landing is incredible!! Thanks for sharing this great info!!

 

Chris

 

Thank you so very much for responding. I believe these women are definitely unsung heroes of WWII.

 

...Kat

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