Everyday Patriot

Captain Elsie Ott was born on November 5, 1913, in Smithtown, New York.  After graduating from Smithtown High School in 1933, she attended nursing school at Lenox Hill Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, graduating in 1936. Captain Ott joined the US Army Air Corps Nursing Corps in 1941 in response to World War II.  After some initial posts within the US, she deployed to Karachi, India. On January 17, 1943, Captain Ott became the first woman to earn the Air Medal when she was the sole flight nurse on the first intercontinental air evacuation. This historic flight to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC, took a week from Karachi, India.  Captain Ott took charge of five patients on this grueling flight and was assisted only by a medical technician. After returning to India, she was assigned to the newly created 803rd Military Air Evacuation Squad and, aided with the detailed logs she had kept on the first historic flight, helped create the air ambulance s...

Private Benjamin Horace Colbert was born in 1873 in Colbert, Oklahoma. On May 23, 1898, he enlisted in the US Army and deployed with the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry, also known as the "Rough Riders," famously led by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt . During his deployment, Private Colbert would participate in the Landing at Daquiri and the Battle of Las Guasimas.  He left behind a journal of his experiences. The first entry was titled "The Experiences of a Redman with Roosevelt and his Rough Riders" (Private Colbert was a member of the Chickasaw tribe). After the war, he was appointed U.S. Marshall for the southern district of the Indian Territory and was an active Mason and Shriner. Private Benjamin Horace Colbert died on December 8, 1960, and rests in the Calvary Cemetery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. * Read about a.d. elliott's Everyday Patriot Project here* **************************************** a.d. elliott is a wanderer, writer, and photographer currently li...

Private Joseph Harvey Davenport was born on April 28,1887. He enlisted in the US Army and deployed with the 36th Infantry regiment to France in response to World War I.  While there, he and several other members of the Choctaw tribe confused enemy code breakers, using the Choctaw tribal language, about key troop movements. Private Davenport returned back to his home in Oklahoma before he died on April 23, 1923. Private Joseph Harven Davenport rests in the Davenport Family Cemetery, located on the privately-owned Tucker ranch. See Also: Captain Charles Walter Vetch Corporal Peter Maytubby Corporal Tobias William Frazier Corporal Solomon Bond Louis Private First Class Ben Carterby Private First Class Joseph Oklahombi Private Joseph Harvey Davenport * Read about a.d. elliott's Everyday Patriot Project here* **************************************** a.d. elliott is a wanderer, writer, and photographer currently living in Salem, Virginia.  In addition to the t...