The VA hospital in Saginaw is the only one in the Unites States of America named in honor of a woman, and that would be the Aleda E. Lutz V.A. Medical Center. Born in 1915 in Freeland. a graduate of the Saginaw General Nursing School, she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) in November 1941, and was one of the most celebrated flight nurses of World War II, 1st Lt. Aleda E. Lutz flew 196 missions and evacuated over 3,500 men. In November 1944. She came into many combat zones while evacuating wounded troops. While overseas, she was active in European, African, and Italian battlefields. Several times she helped to evacuate wounded soldiers from the Anzio Beachhead, which was under fire from the German Army.
During an evacuation flight from the front lines near Lyons, Italy, her C-47 crashed killing all aboard, and she was buried with full military honors in an American Cemetery in France. Lt Lutz was the first American woman who died in action during World War II. Lieutenant Lutz had five battle stars: Tunisia, Sicily, South Italy, Central Italy, and South France. She was Awarded the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, she posthumously received the Distinguished Flying Cross the second woman to receive the decoration after Amelia Earhart.
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