REBA WHITTLE

HER BAG MAY BE LITTLE. HER GRIT WAS ANYTHING BUT.

Born in 1919, Reba Whittle was an Army flight nurse whose courage would earn her a remarkable place in history.

During WWII, Reba’s plane was shot down over Germany. Injured in the crash, she was taken prisoner and spent more than four months in captivity—becoming the only American female service member held as a POW in the European Theater during WWII.

Even while injured herself, Reba continued doing what she was trained to do: care for others. She helped tend to fellow prisoners until a Red Cross representative confirmed her identity and negotiations began for her return home.

Reba was eventually repatriated and awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal, but her fight wasn’t over.

The injuries she carried home—both seen and unseen—affected her ability to continue serving. Yet when she requested to leave active duty, her disability claim was denied and her POW status went unrecognized.

Reba and her husband spent years fighting for the recognition she had earned.

Nearly four decades after her capture, Reba was finally granted official POW status—two years after her death from cancer.

Her story is one of service, resilience, and the determination to keep going even when the fight follows you home.

That’s the legacy behind the Whittle.

Small bag. Remarkable woman. A story worth carrying forward.

 

A PIECE OF HER STORY

After Reba was captured, a German doctor examining her reportedly remarked that they didn't know what to do with her because she was the first woman prisoner they had encountered.

Reba Whittle made history simply by serving—and spent decades fighting to make sure that history remembered her correctly.