Book 5, by Helen Wells
Illustrated by Ralph Crosby Smith
Grosset & Dunlap, 1945
"You, the flight nurse, will be in complete medical charge on the trip," Major LaRosa said. "From the time you pick up the wounded in the combat zone, until you unload them at the base hospital, you alone are responsible for the lives of eighteen wounded soldiers."
--From Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse, p. 15
Cherry, based in England, flies into battle areas to help evacuate wounded soldiers.
Chapter 1: Practice Flight
Having volunteered for air duty, Cherry trains to be a flight nurse at Randolph Field in Texas, along with old friends Ann and Gwen. Another old friend, Sergeant Bunce Smith, now a medical technician, is also training there, and Cherry arranges for him to be assigned to her crew, headed by Captain Wade Cooper, the reluctant pilot of her C-47 ambulance plane.
Two other covers depicting Cherry in military uniform (Army Nurse and Chief Nurse) were quickly revised after World War II, but Cherry was allowed to keep her military togs for the cover of Flight Nurse.
Chapter 2: Somewhere in Britain Dr. Joe Fortune arrives for Cherry's graduation from flight school and asks her to help his English friend Mrs. Frances Eldredge, if she is sent to England. Mrs. Eldredge's daughter, Lucia Grainger, a young wife and mother, had been killed in a London bombing early in the war, leaving behind a husband, Mark, and a little girl, Muriel. After graduation, the nurses are immediately shipped out; Cherry is assigned to Flight Three with Ann, Gwen, and three other nurses, Agnes Gray, Elsie Wiegand, and Margaret Hortas. They spend five days crossing the Atlantic by ship, narrowly avoiding a torpedo, and land in England.
Chapter 3: Mystery of Mark Grainger
Cherry and Flight Three arrive at their air base and learn that initially they will be working at the base hospital and flying noncombat missions, ferrying patients to a transfer hospital in Prestwick, Scotland. When robot bombs hit a village near the base, Cherry helps treat injured civilians. Mrs. Eldredge happens to be among them, and Cherry learns that she--and her neighbors--suspect that her son-in-law, Mark Grainger, who has left the British army, may be an enemy spy.
Cherry visits Great Britain again in Companion Nurse, but no mention is made there of her earlier wartime service.
Chapter 4: "Aunt" Cherry
When flights are grounded by bad weather, allowing Cherry some free time, she invites Mrs. Eldredge and Muriel to the base. Mrs. Eldredge must decline because of a bad cold, but a neighbor brings Muriel for luncheon, and the whole squadron decides to make the little girl their mascot; on subsequent visits they even fashion a pint-sized flight nurse uniform for her. When Cherry takes Muriel home after Thanksgiving dinner at the base, she enjoys a visit with Mrs. Eldredge that becomes strained when Mark Grainger unexpectedly arrives and just as suddenly departs, without explanation.
Chapter 5: First Mission
With Wade as her pilot, Cherry flies her first combat mission, across the English Channel and over enemy-held territory, to evacuate wounded soldiers from a holding station near the battlefield. As the plane is lifting off for the return flight, Cherry spots Mark Grainger on the restricted airfield. Later, after the plane has dodged enemy fire and returned to base, she tells Wade about seeing Grainger, but he convinces her not to worry unduly.
Explore an in-depth account of Cherry Ames's experiences as a nurse during wartime. Click here to read more!
Chapter 6: A Medal for Johnny
On another mission to the same holding station, one of the men Cherry helps evacuate is a heroic young soldier named Johnny Kane. She learns that he is far too young to be in the army--only fourteen years old--but keeps his secret. Later she visits him in the base hospital and, over a few games of checkers, eventually convinces him to tell the authorities his real age.
Chapter 7: Christmas Party
Cherry celebrates her birthday and Christmas, receiving presents and letters from home, including one from Lex announcing his imminent marriage to another woman. Cherry is hurt but cheers up after she sees Wade. She attends the base Christmas party for the local children, including Muriel, who shows Cherry a medal--stamped "Berlin"--that her father gave her for Christmas.
Though Lex jilts Cherry, writing that he's going to marry someone else, he's still a bachelor when he reappears in the series in Country Doctor's Nurse.
Chapter 8: Under Fire
Cherry's plane delivers infantrymen to the battlefield before picking up wounded, with shells falling and enemy planes roaring overhead as she and Bunce scramble to load casualties. Mark Grainger, wounded, attempts to board the plane, explaining that he needs to deliver an urgent message, and Cherry lets him aboard, intending to turn him over to authorities upon arrival. The plane is badly shot up on a harrowing return trip, but Wade lands safely. Mark Grainger slips away, and Cherry, frightened of the consequences, reports her actions to the commanding officer.
Chapter 9: The Mystery Explained
Cherry feels homesick and fatigued; she hurt her back on her last flight. Wade tells her he's requested a transfer back to combat flying and is going to name his plane for her. While Cherry is still waiting to hear from headquarters, she is invited to Mrs. Eldredge's home, where Mark Grainger is waiting for her. He explains that he is working for British intelligence with the Belgian underground, that the "Berlin" medal he gave Muriel had saved his life, helping him to pass as a German, and that Cherry's commanding officer knows the facts of the case.
All about World War II nurses in girls' series books, from Susan Merton to Nancy Naylor to Ann Bartlett. Click here to read more!
Chapter 10: Mission Home Ann wakes the other members of Flight Three with the news that her longtime fiance, Jack Powell, has arrived and they're going to be married that afternoon. All the nurses in the barracks help with the wedding preparations, fashioning a gown from bedsheets and a veil from mosquito netting, convincing the cook to bake a wedding cake and creatively disguise their usual mutton for the reception, decorating the chapel with garlands of rhododendron leaves, and arranging for Muriel, their mascot, to attend. Later, at the wedding reception, Cherry, heartbroken, learns she is being sent stateside because of her fatigue and strained back. But her spirits lift when she is awarded the Air Medal and a citation for skill and courage on her last combat mission.
Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse
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