 New York City where the American stage begins, here is another program with a cast of outstanding players. Public service time has been made available by this station for your Army and your Air Force to bring you this story as proudly we hail the Air Force Nurse Corps. Women who have understood their nation's needs. American women who have recognized their nation's emergency. American women who have accepted the challenge to do something about it. This is the story of a flight nurse based on her own experiences. The story of an American woman who has accepted that challenge. The story of a plane crash and a woman's courage in the dark waters off Kyushu. Before our first act curtain rises an important message. Registered or graduate nurses. Answer your country's call for service in the Air Force Nurse Corps. The need is great and the need is urgent. There just aren't enough nurses to handle the nursing requirements of our greatly expanding Air Force. And you as a nurse can appreciate perhaps better than anyone else. The fact that efficiency is largely dependent upon the state of health. So here's your opportunity to be of a measurable service to your country at a time when the need is great. The Air Force Nurse Corps has plenty to offer you too. The pay is good, the allowances are liberal. You'll be in a job that challenges the best that's within you. And you'll have endless opportunities to grow in your professional capacity. The Air Force's vigorous medical research program has developed many new medical techniques. And you'll learn how to apply them. But most of all, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you're serving at a time when you are needed most. So make your decision to serve now. Ride or wire the Surgeon General, United States Air Force, Washington 25, DC. And now your army and your Air Force present the proudly we hail production Dark Waters of Kyushu. Janita Ruth Bonham is a lieutenant in the United States Air Force Nurse Corps. She's 28 years of age, pretty with copper colored hair and blue eyes. Lieutenant Bonham is a veteran of several year service in Japan and the Philippines. As a nurse in the troop carrier command, she flew almost daily to Korea, helped the wounded men, dressed their wounds, gave them plasma and sedatives on the flight back. For three months, Lieutenant Bonham was stationed on the island of Kyushu, southernmost of the Japanese group, and the location of an American air base servicing Korea. Then came a day different from any other. I remember it was raining. Colleen Moses said hardly makes it a day different from any other. Vera's alarm was set for two, mine for two-thirty. It used to be after Vera's went off, I'd lie there listening to the strange winds outside. Even the rain that sounded different somehow. But not anymore. All the sounds were familiar. And the most familiar of all. Vera? Yeah, Bonnie. I reached for it. Almost got it that time. We'll get you a fly swatter. Oh, a sledgehammer. That means I have to make the coffee. I'll tell you what, I'll make the coffee. You call operations for a truck. Coffee. Make it the way I like it, nice and hot. And black. I'm beginning to suspect I may come to life again after all. Well, don't forget the phone for that truck. I was just warming my soul with the thought of that coffee. Well, hurry up. If we take off soon enough, we may be able to get in two trips to Korea again today. No reason for making it a day different from any other. Well, that means we don't get back till midnight again. You know, we're going to need that fly swatter. The usual ride in the usual truck. Nothing unusual in that. But at base operations, well, something a little unusual did happen. Operations looks full this morning. I wonder if we can hit your ride with somebody we know. Well, look who's here. Janita Bonham. Hey, Bonnie. Hey, there's a character who seems to know you. I don't remember ever seeing him. Why, it's Bill. Bill Ward. Hey, Bonnie, what are you doing? No, no, no, let me ask it first, Bill. What are you doing here? Oh, things got pretty dull back home. So here I am flying an airplane. Now tell me what you're doing here. Well, first, tell me all about it. If anyone cares, I'm beginning to wonder what I'm doing here. If you two want to be alone. What? Bill and me? Oh, Vera, this is Bill Ward. We used to go to school together back in Oklahoma. Bill, Vera Brown. How do you do, Major? How are you, Captain? Would you, by any chance, be taking the plane up this morning, one that might have room for us? You see, Bonnie hasn't told you, but if we get an early enough flight, then we can make two trips. Two round trips to Korea a day, evacuating wounded? Mm-hmm. Captain, you're finally telling me all about yourself. Oh, that just covers the last three months, Major. Now if you can find room in your plane for us. Okay? It's done. It was good seeing Bill again. Good seeing Bill and Vera hit it off so well. I knew with Bill's help, Vera would find her way to the plane, so I started across the airfield alone. To put our equipment aboard the C-54, Bill was piloting. I passed the assembly area. Hundreds of men were being assigned to groups for airlift to Korea. The men made strange shadows, changing shadows as they moved in and out of the circles of light. Now and then a splatter of light hit a shine on the fish-like bodies of the big transport. I got our equipment on board, then good waiting for Bill and Vera to reach the plane. Hey, Bonnie, I see you didn't have any trouble finding it. Well, I just followed the crowd. I didn't know your cargo was men. Yeah, replacements, 52 of them, mostly fresh from the States. They're first time out, Bonnie, and they sure look at it. They can't all be regular commuters like you. Round trips, that's our specialty. Yeah, what we need are more people like you. And Bonnie, Vera told me about that emergency operation you performed in the plane. Hey, you two were supposed to talk about each other, not me. Maybe we'll have time during the trip. Come on, let's get aboard. A few minutes before we take off. I'll be happy when we land, won't you, Bonnie? Love the sight of an airship moving into me. It always reminds me of my graduation from high school. They held it in the stadium. Now remember looking down on the football field with that same funny feeling in my stomach. That's right, you gave the commencement speech to Bonnie. Oh, top student in the class. Oh-ho, not on your life. I was the only one with a voice that could be heard the length of the field. A voice. Flight nurse Janita Bonham would have told you there was nothing unusual in that. The voice of a young woman important? Add to it a heart, courage and devotion to duty. And they'll all prove very important indeed. And a dream that had to wait. That was important too. Vera's dream was she told us about it just before the take-off. I've had three real big dreams in my life. The first dream was when I was just finishing grade school. My sister, a few years older than myself, was a smart dresser. My big dream was to wear high heels and go clip-clop, clip-clop, the way she did. Do I take out a notebook now? Not yet, professor. My second dream came when I was starting my nurses' training. I dreamt of a world at peace. I don't laugh. We won't. Completely at peace. A world in which no little men in quilted jackets were trying to force a way of life on somebody else. A world at peace. Fantastic. Fantastic? Maybe not. It was a world in which communism and things like that were just words in a dictionary. Yeah, but those things are real. They have to be faced. I know it. I know it. That's why you're here and that's why I'm here. But in my dream, I could hang out my registered nurse, shingle, and all the big specialists, the Mayo Clinic, the Johns Hopkins, and Zurich, Vienna, London. Every time they had a real important case, they'd call on me. That's a good ambitious dream. But now I know that those cases we brought back yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, and those we'll bring back tomorrow are the most important cases a nurse could handle all her lifetime. One more dream, lady. The third dream. Excuse me, sir. Time to take off. I guess the third dream will have to wait. I'll be waiting to hear what it is. You ready, Joe? Yes, sir. Better go back and fasten your seatbelts, ladies. Here we go. I guess we must be out over the bay now. The water's your mighty dark down there if we are. I'd like you to get some shell eyes. I'll cover the box back of the fly fridge. I think we'll accept that offer. How about it, Vera? Maybe you can catch up with that dream. I'll let you know. Oil pressure's gone and port engines. Dark waters off Kyushu will return in just a moment for the second act. But first, here's a word for you registered nurses. Your country needs you now as a flight nurse in your United States Air Force. As a commissioned officer wearing the Air Force blue, you will receive the finest training available. If you are physically qualified and between the ages of 21 and 36, you can be enrolled in the Air Force School of Aviation Medicine to earn the coveted silver wings of an Air Force flight nurse. As a flight nurse, you will watch over our sick and wounded while they are being flown to hospital areas, and you'll receive flight pay. But it also means much more. It means you'll be answering the call for women of courage and vision, women who have the determination to stand behind our fighting men in their battle for freedom. For complete information on how you can become a flight nurse, right or wire the Surgeon General, United States Air Force, Washington 25 D.C. You are listening to Proudly We Hail. And now we present the second act of Dark Waters Off Cueshoe. I couldn't think straight. That sickling plunge right after the takeoff. That awful noise. Then underwater, fighting for the surface. Now I was swimming with no life preserved along. I couldn't feel anything. Nothing but the movement of my arms and legs, keeping me afloat. And that didn't even seem like my own idea. Like my arms and legs weren't part of me. Then out of the darkness came Providence. Hell, it was a barracks bag. I hung on. Everything was so black. Men were swimming near me. Swimming just to keep afloat. Here and there, nearby, other strangers. But terribly still. Terribly still. Then, all around me, men cried out. Then, not too far away. I saw it fill a wetted for a moment on the crest of a wave. And then I heard a plane passing over him. It disappeared again. But I knew it was near. I loosened my hold on the precious barracks bag and moved off toward the raft. My rest to chewed me. Arms felt still and strange. Almost numb. But I knew I had to make that raft. No feeling in them at all. I felt myself beginning to. I can hold you. I felt an arm pushing me. Okay, nurse. I wanted to say something. But I couldn't. Then the push came again. And I moved on. And then we were there. I was at the raft. I grabbed the trail rope. And held on. Trying to get my breath. Near me I could see the heads of swimming men. I grabbed. The rope here. Okay. Reach up now. Reach up. That's it. Now pile in. That's it. Reach up now. Put yourself over. Try. Easy. Easy. Now try. My arm. Must be broken. Try it now. Thanks, nurse. That made it. I turned. And another mess. Had reached out blindly. For the rope. I grabbed his wrist. And pulled him to the raft. Then up. Then over. Every man who reached the raft was guided to the rope and helped to safety. In the darkness, Janita made out a second raft some 20 yards away. And saw that men were climbing into that one too. When she was sure no other soldiers were swimming, she allowed some of the men to reach down into the cold, dark waters and drag her up over the side. Janita laid back in the crowded raft pain in her head and chest. She felt a surge of nausea. But then there were other things to think about. Here. Let me up. Let me up. Thank you, Reverend. I'm going to swim to shore and get help. There's a soldier. Stay on this ride. You got to get help, don't we? That water's full of sharks. Oh, I can make it. I can make it, I tell you. You can get blown out of the sea. Oh. Oh, I can make it. I can make it. Take it easy. Take it easy, soldier. Make room for him to sit down again. The soldier, the rescue boats will be here shortly. Didn't come an hour past. No one ashore had seen the plane dive into the dark waters. Pilots of other planes passing overhead saw nothing in the blackness below. There were 17 men on Janita's raft, many of them badly hurt. Choppy seas made first aid impossible. For getting her own pain, Janita comforted the injured, calmed the fearful and kept the other shouting to the second raft to maintain contact. She talked until her throat was raw, keeping up their courage and determination. The voice that had won her honors at home now was keeping alive the hopes and spirits of more than a score of crash survivors, adrift on the dark waters off Kyushu. It had been about four o'clock when the airplane had taken off. About two hours later. Hey. Hey. I see a light. I see a light. They were fishing boats. Their small searchlights had finally made the minds fast to both rafts. I felt like I was hearing my pain. You can't hear pain. You can only hear pain. But now, now it all seemed to get dim. Could hear my pain. All in my mind. I felt. I felt. Hey, nurse. What's the matter with you? Oh, she just healed over. Here, give me a hand. We'll make her comfortable. Thank you. Boy, she took plenty. Plenty. You're dead. She's got to be all right. She's just got to be. In a hospital in Japan not long after, flight nurse Janita Bonham is asked by the doctor. Well, Bonnie, are you feeling strong enough to receive a visitor? I feel fine. But you're the doctor. Well, it's a pleasure to be able to tell you not only feel fine, you are fine. You and all the 27 lives you saved. I'll ask the general to step inside. General? General Stratomire, your visitor. I, um, I understand he has a little gadget he wants to pin on you. A distinguished flying cross. Distinguished flying cross. I. Nurse, come quickly. She's fainted. A few minutes later, after she'd sufficiently recovered, Lieutenant Janita Ruth Bonham, United States Air Force Nurse Corps, was presented by Lieutenant General Georgie Stratomire with the highest decoration of the Air Force. The citation reading, For meritorious service in medical air evacuation flights, and for carrying out her missions willingly and without complaint, Lieutenant Bonham's unselfish devotion to duty has reflected great credit upon herself, her profession, and the United States Air Force. Lieutenant Bonham is now back in the United States at Maxwell Field, Alabama, teaching other nurses the techniques of evacuating the wounded by air. Speaking of that unfortunate crash on September 25th, 1950, in the dark waters of Kyushu, the girl from Oklahoma, who was responsible for the lives of many of the 27 survivors, says, I don't remember anything clearly. I just remember someone helping me toward the raft. I don't believe I helped anyone else. But I witnessed Private First Class Percy Johnson, a battle-tested infantryman returning to frontline duty, in his official report. Lieutenant Bonham took command. None of us guessed that she was badly hurt. She wasn't excited, and she used her head. All the men took orders from her without question. She sure saved a lot of guys. The nurses have expanded tremendously to meet the challenge of the forces of aggression which are threatening the peace of the world. And there's an urgent need for professional women to fill the ranks within the Women's Medical Specialist Corps. The occupational and physical therapists and the dietitians who comprise the corps never had a greater opportunity to serve where they are needed most. Right now, there are only a few hundred of these highly trained specialists serving throughout the Army and the Air Force, despite the fact that the need for their services has never been more acute. To the women of this profession, your Army and Air Force offers not only the opportunity to fulfill a patriotic duty, but a commission as an officer in the Army or the Air Force of the United States. And with that commission goes the pay, the privileges, the security, and the opportunity for continued study that's available to every officer. The opportunity for a lifetime career is great, but the need is greater. So, if you're a qualified occupational or physical therapist or a dietitian, here is your chance to serve your country in an hour of great need. Write or wire the Surgeon General, United States Army, or the Surgeon General, United States Air Force, Washington 25, D.C. Remember, you're needed now. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with this station by the United States Army and United States Air Force Recruiting Service. This program featured a cast of outstanding players. This is Kenneth Banghart speaking and inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.