Female Flight Nurses who flew with the troop carrier squadrons during World War II faced the very same dangers the men faced. 500, out of the 6,500 nurses on duty at the height of the war, were assigned to air evacuation flight status. Thirteen Flight Nurses were killed during the war in air crashes. Sixteen medals were awarded posthumously to nurses who died as a result of enemy fire. Overall, nurses of all service groups were awarded 1,619 medals, citations, and commendations during the war. This emphasizes the tremendous job performed by these women under all manner of conditions including combat. In a time of pain and horror they were the "angels" of the battlefield.
	Flight nurses were selected from nurses on duty with the Army Air Force hospitals. The recommendation of the senior flight surgeon in their command was also required. Their first difficulty was passing a flight physical. They then went to the School of Air Evacuation at Bowman Field, in Louisville, Kentucky. The candidates then had to complete a very difficult 8 week course. They learned how to load and unload patients to and from a transport plane. Military training included survival skills, how to use a parachute, and some combat techniques, as they would be required to fly into combat areas. Upon completion of training, the nurses were assigned to Air Evacuation Units overseas, where they flew as crewmembers aboard troop carrier C-47s. These troop carriers flew in and out of combat areas in every theater of war exposing these Flight Nurse to combat dangers that had never been experienced by American women as a group. Hundreds of wounded GIs who would have died on the battlefield in previous wars were saved due to the heroic actions of these women.

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