Brig. Gen. Fred Borum presents the Air Medal to Lt. Elsie Ott, the first woman to receive the Air Medal. (US Air Force photo)
75 Years Ago—Jan. 17, 1943: US Naval Base and Naval Air Station, Brisbane, Australia is established.
First intercontinental medical air evacuation and the first time a nurse participates in air evacuation—Lt. Elsie Ott, who had not been trained in air evacuation and had never flown in a plane, cares for patients on a week-long journey from India to Washington DC; she will receive the first Air Medal to be awarded to a woman. (Read more: Medical Air Evacuation in World War II).
