Joshua
Mills-Montgomery
11/23/18
Important women
Aleda E. Lutz was born on December 9, 1915, in Freeland Michigan to her lovely parents Friederich Georg Lutz and Margaretha Sybilla which were German immigrants. Aleda was a very intelligent woman she grew up bilingual speaking German and English. She attendant Wellman country all the way up to 8th grade and then Freeland through the 10th grade in 1933 she graduated high school from Saginaw Arthur Hill high school in 1937 Aleda graduated nursing from Saginaw general hospital. Aleda’s favorite sport was tennis and she played it in high school she was a superior athlete she also loved dancing and even ice skating and most of all she was even an avid bowler for her nursing school. She started bowling in her nursing school and she played for her nursing school secret team. The bowling team was founded in 1937 by Hessie Lanes.
Aleda E. Lutz enlisted on February 10, 1942, in the army nurse corps. She WAS commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant her service number was N730648. Aleda wasn't the only one going into the military. She comes from a background of family that has been in the military her brother fought in ww1 his name was Adam Lutz her other brother Conrad Lutz joined the in the medical division in ww1 as well as her nephews joined the military their names were Theodore and Frederick Lutz her other nephew Robert joined peacekeeping force in Germany after WWII. Aleda spends her first early months in the army as a general duty nurse stationed at an airfield in Mount Clemens, Michigan. She was the only nurse on duty there and had 25 patients to look after. Most of the nurses were being sent overseas so she was left with a huge load of patients. She was asked to volunteer as an air nurse as long as she passed her air physical and if she did she would become an air nurse. Only 59,000 nurses were qualified for air nurses in WWII. WWII was in high demand for air nurses only 6 out of 22 nurses passed the physical the be air nurses in WWII. And 3 of the 6 dropped out witch left Aleda and two others. The names of the two nurses that didn't drop out were Veronica Savinski and Clara Murphy. All three girls were accepted to become flight nurses.
Aleda Lutz was promoted to 1st lieutenant on december 17, 1943. She had become part of the 802nd medical air evacuation transportation squadron of the 12 united states air force. She was the first to depart for overseas duty which was a very scary thing but she wasn't afraid of anything she was there to help and save peoples live or die trying. Aleda was send to north africa witch was consisted of c-47 cargo planes used to take ammunition and supplies the the front line then take wounded soldiers back to a base were there was a hospital to treat the wounded witch this unit was the first of its kind. Everyone of this unit was trained in the warzone due to emergency deployment. Aleda was in six different battle campaigns over a 2 year period. She accompanied in many air missions to help the wounded soldiers and bring them back to get treated. This medic group was the only medic group to have gone that far into the war zone no other medic group had gone that far. Aleda was an amazing nurse no one out of the 3500 men she had evacuated had died under the hands of her own she was the best liked person in the 802nd unit. Everyone in the 802nd unit had nothing but amazing things to say about Aleda Lutz.
On november 1, 1944 Aleda Lutz was fatally wounded in a medivac C-47 plane crash in Saint Chamond France. The C-47 was carrying 15 wounded soldiers out of the 15 soldiers 8 were german prisoners of war and 9 were american soldiers. The crash that killed aleda was caused due to bad weather but studies show that it might have been shot down by german anti craft guns. To this day Aleda Lutz lives among are hearts for all the lives she saved by risking hers. She was the first women to die in combat in wwII she had the most flight hours logged in history by a women in wwII. Her spirit lives to this day by a veterans hospital in her honor and a ship called the Aleda E. Lutz. in 1994 she was given the hall of fame in michigan for her great accomplishments and her life she sacrificed for ares.
WORK CITED
1.) Lutz , John e. “Aleda E. Lutz.” Korean War Memorial | American Battle Monuments Commission, 28 June 2008, www.abmc.gov/node/546785#.XATA2y2ZORs.
2.) Lutz Aleda memorial war tribute/ american battle wwII ehttps://foundationforwomenwarriors.org/aleda-e-lutz-2lt-u-s-army/