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- Description:
- Retired Air Force Colonel Crescentia "Cris" Wellman relfects on her childhood, education and her long career as a U.S. Air Force flight nurse. After growing up in rural Iowa and earning her nursing degree at St. Francis Nursing School in Peoria, IL, Wellman says that she enlisted as an Air Force nurse in May of 1953 and was first assigned to Eielson AFB in Alaska. She goes on to discuss her work at various duty stations throughout her career, including stints in California, Oklahoma, Washington, Florida, Illinois, Texas, England, Germany and Okinawa. She describes the duties of a flight nurse and treating burn victims on Air-Evac runs. She also talks about working with Vietnam battlefield casualties and G.I. drug addicts while based on Okinawa. She says she finally retired from the Air Force on July 1, 1981. Wellman is interviewed by Ruth F. Stewart.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-04-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Devere Powell talks about her service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War Two. She says she enlisted in April 1943, received her flight nurse's training at Bowman Field in Kentucky, was shipped to Hollandia, New Guinea in April 1945 and then to Manila and finally to Leyte where she joined the 801st Air Evac Squad. She discusses her job of escorting casualties from the Philippine Islands and Okinawa to hospitals in Manila and tells a poignant story of giving her flight wings to a wounded former American POW as a souvenir. Powell says she was discharged from the Army as a First Lieutenant in December 1945. Interviewer Betty Thompson also discusses Powell's nursing career and her volunteer work in retirement.
- Date Issued:
- 1984-10-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project