Aleda E. Lutz

Aleda E. Lutz
Nickname(s) Lutzy
Born 1915
Freeland, Michigan, United States
Died November 1, 1944
Saint-Chamond, Loire, France
Allegiance  United States
Service/branch United States Army
Rank Lieutenant
Unit Army Nurse Corps
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal (4)
Purple Heart
European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
Red Cross Medal

Aleda E. Lutz (1915 – November 1, 1944) was a United States Army flight nurse and one of the most celebrated women war heroes during World War II.

In February 1942, Lutz enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant. Only two percent of 59,000 nurses in World War II were qualified flight nurses. Lutz began air combat missions in March 1943 and was promoted to 1st lieutenant, effective December 17, 1943.

Lutz participated in six separate battle campaigns over a 20-month period, accompanied air combat missions, and conducted all-weather medical evacuations in Tunisia, Italy and France.

As a flight nurse, Lutz flew in unmarked transport planes, which were used to carry supplies to front lines and for patients backing out, making them legal targets for enemy fire. She once made four sorties in one day into the Anzio beachhead, which was under fire from the German army.

On November 1, 1944, she was fatally injured in a Medevac C-47 crash near Saint-Chamond, Loire, France. The Medevac was transporting 15 wounded soldiers (6 German POW and 9 American soldiers) from France to Italy when a violent storm was encountered. The pilot lost control of the plane and it crashed on the side of Mont Pelat, the highest mountain in the westernmost part of the Mercantour National Park. There were no survivors. Lutz was 28 years old, and the only female on the plane.

Lutz was the first American woman to die in combat in World War II. At the time of her death, Lutz was perhaps the most experienced flight nurse in the U.S. military service. She had the most evacuation sorties (196), most combat hours flown by any flight nurse (814) and the most patients transported by any flight nurse (3500+).

Lutz was buried with full military honors in the Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial in Draguignan, France. Lutz is the only woman buried there.

Honors

Lutz is one of the most highly decorated women in the United States Military. Lutz was awarded the Air Medal four times, the Oak Leaf Cluster and the Red Cross Medal. Lutz had five battle stars: Tunisia, Sicily, South Italy, Central Italy, and South France. Lutz was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross, the nation’s second highest military honor, making Lutz the second woman to receive the decoration after Amelia Earhart and the first award of its kind ever given to an Army Nurse in WWII. The citation read: "For outstanding proficiency and selfless devotion to duty."

Lutz has been honored with an 800-patient hospital ship —the USAHS Aleda E. Lutz— dedicated by General George C. Marshall and a C-47 cargo plane christened Miss Nightingale III in her honor.

The Aleda E. Lutz Veterans Affairs Medical Center was dedicated in her memory in 1950 and on October 12, 1990 was rededicated as the Aleda E. Lutz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center by Congressional Decree. The congressional resolution was first offered in 1949, but died in committee, mainly because she was a woman. Though the building was completed in 1950, it was not until August 15, 1990 that it was officially named and authorized by President George H. W. Bush.

In 1993, Lutz was inducted into the Saginaw (Michigan) Hall of Fame and in 1994, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in Lansing, Michigan.

On Saturday, April 17, 2010 Lutz, along with four other former military members with Michigan connections will be enshrined into the Air Zoo's Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.

A stele (monument) exists at the crash site which states Lt. Lutz was the first American woman who died in action during World War II. The stele is near Doizieux, France on Mt. Pilat. The monument was erected in 2005 and every September there is a memorial service. A local citizen has written a book about the crash and has interviewed all the witnesses.

With the exception of the Civil War Era Doctor Mary Edwards Walker, these honors make Aleda E. Lutz the highest decorated woman in the history of the United States of America.

External links

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