Angel of the Airfield: The Narrative of Flight Nurse Jane Kendeigh

Jane Kendeigh (March 30, 1922 – July 19, 1987) was a U.S. Navy flight nurse. She was the first naval flight nurse to fly to an active combat zone, serving at the Battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific. Kendeigh was born and raised in Ohio. She attended a nursing school in Cleveland.

After graduating, Kendeigh joined the first class of U.S. Navy's School of Air Evacuation. It was composed of 24 pharmacist's mates and 24 nurses. They were trained for crash procedures and field survival, particularly in the face of simulated attacks. They were also trained in treating patients in high altitudes. The program made it possible to rescue wounded soldiers sent to distant lands during the war.

On March 6, 1945, at 22 years old, Kendeigh was the first flight nurse to land at Iwo Jima. The evacuation mission lasted until March 21, 1945. They were able to rescue and attend to 2,393 Marines and sailors. On April 7, 1945, she landed and served at the Battle of Okinawa.

Kendeigh died on July 19, 1987 at San Diego, California. She was 65 years old.

The information above can be found on Wikipedia and when we here at Hidden History first came upon it, we were naturally distraught. It's truly a shame when there is so very little information available about a woman who made United States history. Jane Kendeigh was a flight nurse during World War II and before this war, medical air evacuation was nothing more than a theory. By the end of World War II, medical air evacuation was recognized as vital to patient care. Naturally, the flight nurse emerged as the counterpart of the flight surgeon.

Since the aircraft used for air evacuation also transported military supplies, they could not display the Red Cross. With no markings to indicate their non-combat status, these evacuation flights were vulnerable to enemy attacks. For this reason, flight nurses and medical technicians were volunteers.

During the fight for Iwo Jima in March 1945 and Okinawa, the following April, a 22-year old ensign, Jane Louise Kendeigh, became the first Navy flight nurse to arrive at those islands to care for the wounded. Our goal here at Hidden History was to fill in the blanks about Jane's life, to offer documentation not easily found elsewhere, and to correct any errors in the narrative of Flight Nurse Jane Kendeigh. We can only hope that we have honored her memory.

Jane's story, hidden history that has remained long forgotten, is the story of an American woman who would go on to distinguish herself during the Second World War & a society learning to accept the new roles for women that manifested as a result of the war.

For the rest of Jane's story, please check out the audio link provided for EPISODE EIGHT of our podcast, Hidden History:

 

LISTEN NOW: Angel of the Airfield: The Narrative of Flight Nurse Jane Kendeigh -

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Images and Documents

United States Census, 1930. 

This census places Earl and his family in Henrietta, Ohio, as does the 1920 Census. Contrary to what may be found on the Internet,

Jane was born & raised in Henrietta, not the town of Oberlin.

Color poster of a young woman receiving her nursing cap. A male (only the hands and sleeves are shown) is placing it on her head. He wears blue sleeves with a stars-and-stripes motif on the cuffs. The young woman wears a blue cotton uniform with a white collar, cuffs, and pocket handkerchief.

The model for this poster is Weslee Wootten D'Audney.

American Nurses Association: Nursing Information Bureau, 1942.

Navy Nurse With Hospital Ship.

Painting Oil on Canvas; by John Falter; circa 1942.

A Douglas R4D transport plane (center) loads wounded Marines on Iwo Jima's South Airfield, for evacuation to a Navy hospital on Guam, in March 1945.

Navy nurses display the variety of nurse corps uniforms authorized in mid to late 1944.

Photographed at the Norfolk Naval Hospital, c. 1944–1945.

The War with Japan - The Battle For Iwo Jima.

U.S. Navy doctors & corpsmen tend to wounded Marines at a first aid station on 20 February 1945. Navy Chaplain Lieutenant John H. Galbreath (right center) kneels beside a man who has severe flash burns, received in an artillery battery approximately 50 yards away.

Official U.S. Marine Corps photograph in the collections of the National Archives, 80-G-435702.

Jane Kendeigh became a symbol for casualty evacuation and high altitude nursing.

Jane Kendeigh caring for wounded Marine, William J Wycoff, on Iwo Jima, March 3, 1945.

U.S. Navy, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

Jane L. Kendeigh waits while the delicate task of loading the wounded onboard the Air Evacuation plane is completed, March 6, 1945.

Jane checks over her kit of medical supplies as she flies from a base in the Marianas to the Iwo Jima battleground, March 6, 1945.

The Amherst News-Times, Thursday, March 15, 1945.

The Oberlin News-Tribune, Thursday, March 15, 1945.

Although some historians claim that Jane Kendeigh was born in Oberlin, Ohio, this 1945 news article from Oberlin, Ohio claims that Jane Kendeigh was mistakenly credited to Oberlin and that she was "strictly a Henrietta girl".

Kendeigh cares for the wounded on the trip from Iwo Jima, March 1945.

Jane Kendeigh reviews patient records on the trip from Iwo Jima, March 1945.

Navy Flight Nurse Jane Kendeigh takes a well-deserved nap during the long flight from Iwo Jima, March 1945.

Kendeigh peers through a porthole in the cabin of a C-54 Navy transport plane as Chief Pharmacist Mate Sturtevant of Napa, California, points out important land marks on Iwo Jima, March 8, 1945.

Jane Kendeigh checks a wounded patient’s wrist during the trip from Iwo Jima, March 1945.

Kendeigh ministers to serious casualties awaiting evacuation at the air strip on Iwo Jima.

Jane photographed on the wing of a Naval air transport service evacuation aircraft, on Okinawa, April 1945.

The Daily Gazette of Schenectady, N.Y., April 1945.

This article was written by Barbara Miller Finch, the first female naval correspondent to visit Iwo Jima.

Jane poses with other military members in Okinawa, 1945.

Photo taken on landing strip with Marines during short layover at Okinawa.

National Archives and Records Administration, photo by C.J. Harleen.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Monday, April 9, 1945.

The Waterbury Democrat, Monday, April 9, 1945.

The Buffalo Evening News, Monday, April 9, 1945.

Tennessee (BB-43) bombarding Okinawa with her 1450 main battery guns, as LVTs in the foreground carry troops to the invasion beaches, April 1, 1945.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph.

Kendeigh checking on patients during a flight from Okinawa to Guam, April 1945.

Jane, left, at a press conference at NAS Honolulu with Lucy Jamison, of KSU Radio & Hazel Hartzog of United Press.

Photo from collection of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Nurses enjoying bicycling along the seawall.

U.S. Naval Air Station, Key West, Florida, 28 August 1944. 

Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

The Eaton Rapids Journal, Eaton Rapids, Michigan, Friday, November 22, 1945.

Robert E. Cheverton, Jane's husband. Date of photo unknown.

Reading Material

On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the US Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war.

Learn more below:

Some 350,000 women served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, both at home and abroad. Women on the home front were critical to the war effort: Between 1940 and 1945, the era of “Rosie the Riveter,” the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945, nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home.

Learn more below:

Before World War II, medical air evacuation was little but theory—by the end of the war, it was recognized as vital to patient care.

Learn more below:

Featured Video

Milly Pottenger, U.S. Navy Flight Nurse

Mildred "Milly" Pottenger was a flight nurse during WWII with NATS, or Naval Air Transportation Service, and was stationed on the remote island of Guam. She talks about her experiences caring for the wounded aboard aircraft in the Pacific islands of Guam, Iwo Jima, and Hawaii.

Aired: 09/04/07

Milly Pottenger passed away February 19, 2013.

Resources

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