Geraldine "Jerry" was from Oklahoma City, OK. She graduated from nursing school in Oklahoma and trained as a surgical nurse. She soon volunteered for training to become one of the the first US Army Air Corp flight nurses. She trained in un-marked combat C-47 transport aircraft which could accommodate 14 stacked stretchers hanging from straps along both sides of the aircraft. She was trained to care for the wounded soldiers during the medical evacuation flight from the forward combat zones to rear safe areas having hospital care. Jerry graduated in the first class of flight nurses at the new Flight Nurse School at Bowman, Kentucky and received her officer commission and flight nurse wings. In 1943 Jerry was assigned to the newly established 9th Air Force 806th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron (MAES) based at Welford Park, England, to provide medical services for the large build-up of American forces staging and to prepare for D-Day. She flew into the Normandy combat zone in a C-47, the same as the paratroopers used, to care for and evacuate the wounded back to England. Jerry met Vito Pedone, a pilot, who was stationed in England during the months of training for D-Day. They married in September of 1943 and both successfully executed their assigned D-Day missions. Jerry's medical air evacuation C-47 missions began four day after D-Day on 10 June 1944, when combat conditions were relatively secure enough for the first C-47 aircraft, for the 806th Medical Evacuation Crew to land.  Urgently needed supplies, were taken in, quicky unloaded and the wounded soldiers were quickly loaded and stacked three-high in the C-47. The plane was on the ground a minimum time, then headed over the Channel to hospitals in England. Jerry, as the flight nurse, was responsible to care for the (14) severely wounded soldiers during the flight. The C-47 was unarmed, but was protected by fighter aircraft during their crossings. The new WW II concept of air medical evacuation from the front-line, cared for by flight nurses, proved to be a great success both in Europe and all theaters of war, saving many lives. 

Jerry and Vito had one son, Steve. Both Jerry and Vito are buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.