804TH MEDICAL AIR EVACUATION SQUADRON
54TH TROOP CARRIER WING
5TH AIR FORCE, USAAF
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

The 804th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron was the first Air Evacuation Squadron to be sent to the Southwest Pacific Area SWPA.

The 804th was activated at Bowman Field, Kentucky on 10 December 1942, and departed Bowman Field on 9 May 1943. They staged at Camp Shanks, N.Y. in 3 days and were equipped with Arctic gear — to fool the enemy! They boarded the "Uraguay" on 14 May 1942, and landed at Brisbane, Australia on 14 June 1942. They had no escort but zigged and zagged until they came out of the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean. There they met up with a destroyer and several nights out almost collided with it!

The concept of rapid air evacuation of wounded from the front lines was new to the USASOS (US Army Service of Supply). Their first reaction was to break up the unit when it arrived in Australia and assign its personnel to ground medical units. They spent 80 days in Australia, battling the USASOS and praising the principles of Air Evacuation. The 804th MAES was finally reassigned to the 5th Air Force in October 1943 and their nurses rejoined the unit.

They staged at Camp Doomben, and were assigned to USASOS (US Army Service of Supply) rather than the United States Air Forces. Their nurses were sent to "Sans Souci" — a Red Cross R&R area in Southport on the coast south of Brisbane, with the male officers rotating there every two days to brief them on developments.

On 30 August 1943 they departed Australia minus Capt. Boileau and his flight who were sent to Townsville in north Queensland, arriving Port Moresby in New Guinea on 11 September 1942. On 22 September 1942, Captain Snyder's flight went to Dobodura and on 4 October 1942 Captain Wiedeman's Flight went to Nadzab. It would be Christmas 1943 before their nurses would be allowed to join them at Port Moresby.

The 804th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron of the 54th Troop Carrier Wing of the 5th Air Force, USAAF flew from Australia to bring back wounded troops until General Douglas MacArthur gave the go-ahead for them to be based in New Guinea. The Flight Nurses of the 804th stayed together in units of six but often worked solo, going in C-47's to recent battle sites. 

Lt. Josephine Wright and five other young nurses pioneered medical air evacuation of Allied troops on the north coast of New Guinea, taking the wounded from battlefields to Brisbane,  in south east Queensland, Australia, on C-47 aircraft.

REFERENCE

Legends of the Flight Nurses of WWII

"The Story of Air Evacuation 1942-1989" by the World War II Flight Nurses Association 1989

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Tana Silva of Gainesville, Florida, for her assistance with this home page. Her mother Lt. Josephine Wight, spent some time in Townsville and Brisbane during WWII as a young Army flight nurse in the 804th. She also stayed for a while in Nadzab, New Guinea.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 24 July 2004

This page last updated 03 May 2026