10 Aug 2025 Author of the Month: Judith Barger

By Susan L. Peterson

It takes a special kind of person to leap into danger to help others. And it’s even more remarkable to be the first group to do so from the skies during wartime. That’s exactly what Judith Barger of Little Rock highlights in her book “Beyond the Call of Duty: Army Flight Nursing in World War II.”

Her work tells the stories of 25 of the first 500 U.S. Army Air Force’s flight nurses — trailblazing women who, during World War II, were trained in everything from crash procedures to high-altitude physiology. These women weren’t just nurses. They were survivalists, innovators and quiet heroes.

The first class of flight nurses began training at Bowman Field in Kentucky in 1943. By the time the war ended in 1945, they had helped evacuate more than a million patients from battlefronts across Europe and the Pacific. Their missions were often perilous, navigating enemy fire, mechanical malfunctions, and limited medical supplies, but they also had moments of joy, laughter and even romance. Often, they were the only women among hundreds of men. They had to be resourceful and brave.

One online reviewer said the book was “wonderfully written, interesting, and informational.” Another online reviewer wrote,“I enjoyed that it is complete with maps, photos, and even cartoons. I highly recommend reading it.” 

Barger, herself no stranger to military service, drew inspiration for the book from her career in the Air Force. A proud Arkansan, she grew up in towns across the state, including Crawfordsville, Monticello, Blytheville AFB, Lepanto and Jonesboro. After attending Hendrix College for two years, she earned her nursing degree at Emory University in 1971. She joined the Air Force shortly afterward and became a flight nurse, motivated, in part, by the very women whose stories she would later tell.

From 1973 to 1975, she served in the Philippines with the 9th Aeromedical Evacuation Group during the final stages of the Vietnam War. It was a defining moment in her military career. During her 20 years of service, she earned the rank of lieutenant colonel and attained her master’s and doctoral degrees. The seeds of “Beyond the Call of Duty” were planted during her doctoral work at the University of Texas in 1986. With the number of surviving World War II flight nurses dwindling, Barger raced against time to record their stories. In just six months, she located and interviewed 25 nurses.

After retiring from the Air Force, she knew she needed a creative outlet. Always an avid reader and writer, she returned to school to pursue her early passion for music. She earned a second Ph.D. in musicology from Indiana University in 2002. Her dissertation work led to the publication of her first book, “Elizabeth Stirling and the Musical Life of Female Organists in Nineteenth-Century England.” That book was later followed by “Music in The Girl’s Own Paper: An Annotated Catalogue, 1880–1910” and “The Nurse in History and Opera: From Servant to Sister.” 

Her research has gained international recognition — so much so that the Imperial War Museum in England requested her original interviews with the flight nurses. The reel-to-reel recordings, now digitized and publicly accessible, have become a valuable resource for families and historians alike. “I promised these women their stories would be heard,” Barger said. “Hearing from their families after they listened to the recordings means the world to me.”

Today, she continues to live and write in Little Rock. She maintains a website, judithbarger.com, where visitors can find her blogs, a list of awards and links to the digitized interviews. And she isn’t done yet. A new book focused on flight nurses during the Korean War is in the works.

Last year, she represented WWII flight nurses at the Women in Aviation International Conference in Orlando and will soon speak at an event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where she’ll share her personal experience with Operation Babylift at the close of the Vietnam War.

Barger exemplifies what it means to be a lifelong learner. She continues to shine a light on women’s contributions in both military and music history, bringing untold stories to light. Through her books and speaking engagements, Barger continues to honor the legacy of the courageous women who paved the way for future generations. But perhaps more importantly, she is leaving an important resource for others to learn from as well.