Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
Branch: U.S. Army (Air Forces)
Unit: Nurse Corps, 349th Air Evacuation Group, 805th Medical Squadron
Military Honors: Purple Heart 
Date of Sacrifice: July 27, 1943 - KIA at Naknek Army Air Base, Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska
Age: 29 
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on May 20, 1914, Ruth Mable Gardiner’s family attempted to emigrate to the United States in March of 1917. Arriving in Eastport, Idaho, the family was turned back. In July of that year, three-year-old Ruth was allowed entry—but without her parents. She lived with her older sister Constance in Indianapolis, later attending Sacred Heart High School.

After graduating high school in 1934, Gardiner attended the Training School for Nurses at the White Haven Sanitorium in White Haven, Pennsylvania. From there, she worked as a nurse at St. Agnes Hospital in White Plains, NY, St. Elizabeth Hospital in Utica, NY, and the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, IN.

Ruth joined the U.S. Army in January of 1942. Assigned to Bowman Field, Kentucky, Gardiner was a member of the very first training class for air evacuation nurses with the 349th Air Evacuation Group.

Because the U.S. was involved in a two-theater global war (World War II, 1939-1945), the number of wounded soldiers needing medical attention and evacuation created a pressing need. In response, the Army equipped Bowman Field to be a rush training program for flight nurses, medical technicians, and flight surgeons.

Training for flight nurses included crash procedures, survival training, and understanding the effects of high altitude on patients with varying medical conditions.

In February of 1943, six Army nurses, including Gardiner, were assigned to the 805th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron—which was tasked with evacuating wounded soldiers from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands in WWII’s Pacific theater.

Having to operate in a combat theater, Medical Air Evacuation flights were inherently dangerous. According to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force:

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.

Five months into her assignment, on July 27, 1943, 2nd Lt. Gardiner was aboard a Douglas C-47 Skytrain on an approach to Naknek Army Air Base in Alaska’s Bristol Bay Borough. In foggy weather, the C-47 failed to clear the top of a ridge, and all 11 people aboard were killed in the crash. Ruth Gardiner was 29 years old.

Second Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner was the first Army Air Forces flight nurse killed in a combat theater. She was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and is buried alongside her fellow soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 21, Lot 197. One year after her sacrifice, the 1,250-bed Ruth M. Gardiner General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, was named in her honor.

According to U.S. Air Force records, about 500 Army nurses served in 31 Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadrons during World War II. It is a testament to their skill, along with the flight surgeons and medical technicians, that of the recorded 1,176,048 patients evacuated by air during the war, only 46 died en route. Seventeen flight nurses lost their lives while trying to rescue others.

Sources
Card photo: U.S. Air Force
National Museum of the United States Air Force: Winged Angels: USAAF Flight Nurses in WWII
MSNBC—Memorial Day: 5 courageous women who died in service
This Day in Aviation: 2nd Lieutenant Ruth M. Gardiner, Nurse Corps, United States Army (20 May 1914–27 July 1943)
The Indianapolis News: Army to Name Hospital for Nurse Heroine
Honor States: Ruth M Gardiner
Burial Site: Find a Grave