Today in World War II History—September 24, 1939 & 1944

Flight nurse Lt. Mary Louise Hawkins, WWII (US Air Force photo)
80 Years Ago—September 24, 1939: German SS Einsatzgruppe murders 800 Polish intelligentsia in Bydgoszcz.
75 Years Ago—Sept. 24, 1944: US C-47 cargo plane en route from Palau to Guadalcanal makes a forced landing on Bellona Island; flight nurse Lt. Mary Louise Hawkins treats a patient’s severed trachea using parts from a life vest, all 24 patients survive; Hawkins receives the Distinguished Flying Cross. (Read more about flight nursing—“Medical Air Evacuation in World War—The Flight Nurse.”)