On September 27, 1978. Fred Babcock VFW Post 5555 accepted the application of Hazel Hill Turk under the new national by-laws passed that year. Hazel has become the first Minnesota woman allowed to join the VFW once the National conference voted for the change. As a registered nurse she enlisted in the Army Air Force as a 2LT and was sent to Bowman Field KY to the flight Nurse Training School and was sent as a single replacement via troopship to Hollandaise, New Guinea. There she was temporarily assigned to the 820 the MAES (Medical Air Evacuation Squadron). Later she joined the 801 sty MAES at Biak, Dutch West Indies. As the war progressed the 801 st was moved to Elite in the Philippines. Hazel made frequent flights to combat areas in the Southwest Pacific to bring wounded GI's to station hospitals in the Philippines. While flying in a C-47 troop planes, Hazel administered care to 24 litter patients on each flight. On August 15, 1945 she was at Naha, Okinawa when the Japanese surrendered and then we flew to Tokyo to rescue our POWs. Flight Nurses were among the first American woman to serve in the combat areas of the South Pacific during WWII. For her service Hazel was awarded: The Army Presidential Unit Citation, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 4 Bronze battle stars American Theater Ribbon, 2 Overseas Service Bars, and the WWII Victory metal