PORTLAND, Ore. -- Women have served at Portland ANG Base going back to the Second World War. After the base was established just months before the US entry into World War II, active duty US Army Air Forces women, officer and enlisted and female civilian employees, served at Portland Army Air Base.
After a brief post-war inactivation 1946 - 1947, women continued to serve at Portland Air Force Base in active duty and reserve units during the Cold War, as seen in this picture taken by Mr. Allan de Lay, published in the Oregonian on Saturday, August 28, 1954:
“MASCOT - Lt. Chester Bear, teddy bear mascot of 403d wing, is examined after parachute drop, his 40th, by 1st Lt. Lorna Thomas, air force flight nurse, and T/Sgt. R. L. Rowe, 403d tactical hospital.”
“Chester,” receiving post-jump care by Lt. Thomas in 1954, was perhaps named in honor of the first commander of the Air Force Reserve’s 403rd Troop Carrier Wing (TCW), Brig. Gen. Chester E. McCarty. The 403rd TCW activated at Portland on June 27, 1949. It was ordered to active duty on April 1, 1951, and deployed to Ashiya Air Base, Japan during the Korean War from April 14, 1952 to January 1, 1953 when it returned to Portland. Whether Lt. Lorna Thomas and/or Lt. Chester Bear deployed to the Far East with the wing is not apparent in 142nd Wing History Office references.
During its pre- and postwar service at Portland, which lasted until November 16, 1957, the 403rd TCW operated the Curtiss C-46 Commando, a twin-engine, propeller-driven transport aircraft. With aeromedical evacuation being one of the mission capabilities of the C-46, having flight nurses assigned to the 403rd TCW was a requirement. Flight nurses first began duty in air evacuation of casualties in Algeria, North Africa on March 12, 1943. The Air Force has had flight nurses ever since.
Women first joined the Air National Guard (ANG) in 1956, and the first woman to join the Oregon ANG, 1st Lt. Faith Hunsdon, a flight nurse, did so in March, 1958. She began her military service on active duty in 1952, then Air Force Reserve in 1954 before joining the ANG in 1958. Women have served in the Oregon ANG ever since.
As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we salute all women who currently serve and those who have served our community, state and nation in the Oregon ANG and at Portland ANG Base.