The Lillian Kinkela Scholarship in Nursing
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America's
Most Decorated Woman
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| Times were so tough for a charwoman in a Richmond, California hospital, she could not afford a baby-sitter, nor was there a family friend who would take in her toddler, a big-eyed, curious little girl. As her mother mopped and scrubbed, her baby went from ward to ward where the hospitalized and suffering were lifted by her genuine interest in each of them. She saw the doctors and nurses in action, and almost by the time she could talk she told her mother she was going to be a nurse. The airlines needed registered nurses as stewardesses then, and as she was both beautiful and gracious, she was a recruit on graduation day. She was in the first class of air evac Florence Nightingales, and in WWII and Korea had 425 combat missions; she never lost a wounded casualty as she flew with them from where they'd fallen to field facilities in rear areas. Lillian Kinkela was, among other things, America's most decorated woman. She became the inspiration and technical adviser on the popular film Flight Nurse and she appeared in the Ralph Edwards' NBC network program, This is Your Life; it was one of the ten top mail drawing programs in Edwards' 11 years. |
Award Details & Submission Information