804TH MEDICAL AIR EVACUATION SQUADRON
54TH TROOP CARRIER WING
5TH AIR FORCE, USAAF
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

The 804th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron of the 54th Troop Carrier Wing of the 5th Air Force, USAAF flew from Australia to bring back wounded troops until General Douglas MacArthur gave the go-ahead for them to be based in New Guinea. The Flight Nurses of the 804th stayed together in units of six but often worked solo, going in C-47's to recent battle sites. 

Lt. Josephine Wright and five other young nurses pioneered medical air evacuation of Allied troops on the north coast of New Guinea, taking the wounded from battlefields to Brisbane,  in south east Queensland, Australia, on C-47 aircraft.

REFERENCE

Legends of the Flight Nurses of WWII

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Tana Silva of Gainesville, Florida, for her assistance with this home page. Her mother Lt. Josephine Wight, spent some time in Townsville and Brisbane during WWII as a young Army flight nurse in the 804th. She also stayed for a while in Nadzab, New Guinea.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 24 July 2004

This page last updated 04 March 2020