Mission complete 🚢✈️ Aircraft from Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17) launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) while operating in the Pacific Ocean after completing a nine-month mission in the U.S. 3rd, 5th, and 7th Fleet areas of operations. 📸 1️⃣&2️⃣ MC2 Hannah Kantner 📸 3️⃣ MCSN Matthew Wolf 📸 4️⃣ MC2 Caylen McCutcheon

When Jane Kendeigh touched down on Iwo Jima on March 6, 1945, she became the first Navy flight nurse in an active combat zone. Jane was just 22 years old, and had volunteered for the dangerous assignment. "Send me into combat," she told her superiors. "I want to help our boys when they need it." During the battle of Iwo Jima, Kendeigh and other nurses would help evacuate 2,300 sailors and Marines, the largest such evacuation at that time. After Iwo, Navy brass sent Jane back to the states to capitalize on her newfound celebrity status in selling war bonds. After a few weeks, she pleaded to go back to the Pacific. "I need to be with my boys," she told them.