2LT, US Army Air Forces, Dixie Margaret Forgey Henshaw

Dixie Margaret Forgey (Henshaw) served during WWII in the Army Air Corps as a flight nurse with the 403rd Troop Carrier Group, 801st Air Evacuation Squadron, the first unit of flight nurses in the South and Southwest Pacific Combat Zones. ^{1, 2} In 1944, she was awarded the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster for participating in several evacuations under combat conditions. ³ Forgey was stationed in the Pacific Theater of Operations at Guadalcanal, New Hebrides, Bougainville, and New Caledonia. ² She was often the only nurse in the airborne hospitals, which typically consisted of 14 litters and 23 seats for wounded soldiers. ³ She told The Independent Record of Helena, Montana that the soldiers she treated enjoyed hearing from relatives and receiving small sentimental items saying, “No matter where they are, or what they can buy, they still love something from home.” ⁴

Forgey was born September 18, 1913, to Bessie M. Dickson and Willis C. Forgey, in Miles City, Montana. ⁵ She graduated from Custer County High School in 1932 and from the Holy Rosary School of Nursing in Miles City, Montana in 1935. ⁶ After moving to Albuquerque she became a staff nurse at the Veterans Administration Hospital. ⁶ In 1951, she married Charles Ray Henshaw, who also served in the US Army during World War II. She retired from the Veterans Hospital after 30 years of service. ²