American Battle Graves Archive
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WWII · Battle Death Record

Aleda Lutz

First Lieutenant, U.S. Army · Michigan

Personnel File — Core Information

Name
Aleda Lutz
Entered the Service From
Michigan
Rank
First Lieutenant
Service
U.S. Army
Unit / Regiment
802nd Medical Air Evacuation Squadron, Army Nurse Corps
War
WWII
Date of Death
November 1, 1944
Awards
Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
Burial / Memorial
Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial, Draguignan, France
Grave
Plot D, Row 8, Grave 19

Their story

First Lieutenant Aleda E. Lutz was an Army flight nurse with the 802nd Medical Air Evacuation Squadron who flew 196 missions and helped evacuate over 3,500 wounded soldiers across North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France. She was killed on November 1, 1944, when her medical evacuation C-47 crashed near Saint-Chamond, France, while transporting wounded soldiers from Lyon to Italy. She became the first U.S. military woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (posthumous) and is the only woman buried at Rhone American Cemetery.

Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.

This record is one of more than 200,000 in our historical archive. Some information may have been corrupted or lost over decades of data conversion. Corrections are welcome — please contact the archive.