The Korean War commenced on June 25, 1950, and as casualties mounted the need of medical personnel to administer to the wounded became apparent.  In September 1950, a four-engine Douglas R5D Skymaster passenger plane assigned to Fleet Tactical Support Squadron Twenty-One (VR-21) departed the West Coast en-route to Japan.  Aboard the plane were 26 naval personnel, including 11 Navy nurses who were bound for duty at the Naval Hospital, Yokosuka, Japan.  The plane made three refueling stops, the final being at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  In the early morning hours of September 19, 1950, the plane departed Kwajalein but less than a minute later it crashed and exploded offshore.  The cause of the accident was not determined but it is speculated that the night takeoff with no moon or moonlight may have been a contributing factor.  A rescue party arrived at the scene within minutes but found only four bodies and a few personal possessions.  There were no survivors, and the accident marked the largest single loss of Navy nurses in the history of the Navy and was one of the greatest tragedies ever to befall the Navy Medical Department.

Unfortunately, LTJG Calla Virginia Goodwin was one of the casualties and her body was never found.  She was reportedly born on November 30, 1919 in Tyrrell County, North Carolina.  Readily available historical records report her later hometown was Raleigh, North Carolina, and that she was a 1943 graduate of the Rex Hospital School of Nursing in Raleigh.  She joined the Navy Nurse Corps on January 6, 1944 and her first duty assignment was the Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Virginia.  She was next assigned to the Naval Hospital, Bainbridge, Maryland, where she served briefly from May 20, 1945 until July 23, 1945 when she began duty at the Naval Hospital, Charleston, South Carolina.  Her next duty assignment was the Naval Dispensary, Charleston Naval Base, where she remained until July 1949.  On August 5, 1949, she reported to the Naval Hospital, Long Beach, California, where she remained until February 18, 1950 when she was reassigned to the Naval Hospital, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California.  She remained at Camp Pendleton until November 1950 when she began the journey to Japan.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)