Before World War II (WWII), the US military was not properly equipped to evacuate wounded soldiers from the front lines. The need to access the remote battlefields of WWII drove the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) to revolutionize military medical care through air evacuation. At the same time, commercial airlines only employed registered nurses as flight attendants, providing a model for military flight nurses.
Following the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, the USAAF Office of the Air Surgeon issued an appeal for nurses to volunteer for air evacuation duty.
The program had to be volunteer-based, as flight nurses assumed greater risks than the average US Army nurse. The transport aircraft worked double duty as cargo planes and therefore, could not have Geneva Red Cross markings to protect them from enemy fire, placing the nurses in danger on each flight.
Training for the Sky
With an immediate need for flight nurses overseas, the first two squadrons received minimal preparation, which only included a course on chemical warfare, learning how to march, and some physical training. On Christmas Day 1942, after only four weeks, the first group departed for North Africa. Three weeks later, the second group left for the South Pacific.
Typically, squadrons trained in a demanding six-week (and later eight-week) course. Most women had worked as nurses before their US Army Nurse Corps service, so military indoctrination was prioritized.
Courses, exams, and practical demonstrations covered military customs and courtesies, rules of land warfare, survival in various topographies and map reading, aircraft recognition, military medicine and sanitation, emergency treatments, mental hygiene, pharmacology, and how to load and unload litters.
The difficulty of caring for patients during flights also demanded the nurses be in peak physical condition. Their regular physical training included participating in drills and field maneuvers. Additionally, by the end of the course, flight nurses accumulated eighteen hours flying time.
On Duty in a Combat Zone
Despite many women filling roles in the military during WWII, only nurses were allowed in combat zones. For flight nurses, their duty location changed between the front lines and the nearest military hospital.
An evacuation plane could be loaded and airborne within ten minutes, usually with one flight nurse and one medical technician. A flight surgeon briefed the nurse on each patient’s condition prior to takeoff, and during the flight, she was responsible for patients’ safety and comfort.
The injuries on board a single flight could vary drastically, and the flight nurse had to be ready for any emergency. They monitored each patient’s vitals and administered medications required for pain or air sickness. Many evacuees came straight from the battlefield, covered in mud and debris. Nurses ensured their wounds and bandages remained clean to prevent infection.
Five hundred US Army nurses served as members of 31 Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadrons operating worldwide. One would be held as a prisoner of war in Germany, and seventeen lost their lives while in service to their country.
Of the nearly 1.2 million patients who were evacuated during the war, only 46 died en route.
Click on the following links for more information about flight nurses during WWII.
2nd Lt. Elsie S. Ott
1st Lt. Suella Bernard
1st Lt. Aleda E. Lutz
1st Lt. Mary L. Hawkins
Flight Nurse's Creed
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