Elsie Ott

Born: November 5th 1913Died: sometime in 2006From: Smithtown, New York.Education/Colleges: 1933 Smithtown High School1936 Lenox Hill Hospital School of Nursing in New YorkFirst nursing position at Kings Park Hospital, Long Island, New YorlkSt. Francis Hospital, Miami beach, FlordiaArmy Air Force Nurse Corps in 1941

Elsie Ott was comissioned a Second Lieutinenant on September 13, 1941.1st- Barksdale Army Air Field station hospital in Louisiana.2nd- 1944 159th station hospital in Fort Storey, Virginia.3rd- 1944 159th Station Hospital in the dessert of Karachi, India.4th- Stockton, California

Only a few months after being in India Elsie was given only 24 hours to prepare for the assignment that will make her career. She had zero air-evacuation training, and had never flown in a plane before. On January 17, 1943, Ott served as an in-flight nurse for five soldiers during a week-long venture a trip that previously could only have been accomplished by ship and would have taken three months. The flight was a success, and Ott helped transport wounded soldiers from Karachi all the way to the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. Knowing that her log of how she handled the flight would be important, She made sure to take careful notes. She listed things that would have been of benefit and suggested them for future evacuations.Ott recommended for trips were: more bandages, extra blankets, and oxygen.

Elsie Ott

two months after her flight she was the first women to receive an Air Medal award.