2nd Lt. Reba Z. Whittle, flight nurse—and the only female P.O.W. in the ETO

In July 1943, Lieutenant Katye Swope, a nurse with the 802nd Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron, prepares patients for a flight from Agrigento, Sicily, to Britain for further medical treatment. Allied air evacuation operations began during the campaign in North Africa in February 1943 and continued for the duration of World War II in every theater.

By Stephen D. Lutz On September 27, 1944, a C-47 Skytrain named “Mary,” tail number 43-48395, prepared to depart Royal Air Force Base Wharton in Lancashire, England, filled with assorted medical supplies destined for a U.S. Army field hospital in northeast France. After delivering the supplies, “Mary” was to have been loaded with wounded American … Continue reading 2nd Lt. Reba Z. Whittle, flight nurse—and the only female P.O.W. in the ETO