On September 24, 1944, Lieutenant Mary Louise Hawkins evacuated twenty-four wounded U.S. Army soldiers from the Battle of Palau to Guadalcanal. The C-47 plane they flew was out of fuel. The pilot made an emergency landing on Bellona Island. During the landing, the propeller pierced the fuselage of the aircraft and cut off one of the wounded’s trachea. Mary Louise Hawkins made a suction catheter from the inflation tube of the May West lifejacket. She made sure that the wounded did not choke on his own blood for nineteen hours, until help arrived. All of her patients survived.
Mary Louise Hawkins was awarded the Flight Merit Cross for her actions.
Mary Louise Hawkins photo source: www.nationalmuseum.af.mil