Flight nurse firsts: the first flight nurse killed in action

The first flight nurse killed in action was Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner. A graduate of the first organized course for flight nurses of the 349th Air Evacuation Group, Bowman Field, KY, Lieutenant Gardiner served in the Alaskan Theater of Operations with Flight A of the 805th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron. Lieutenant Gardiner was killed in an aircraft accident on July 27, 1943, while enroute for the purpose of evacuating patients. Gardiner General Hospital in Chicago was named in her honor posthumously.