Victoria "Vici" Dragoiu, 98, Ocala, Fla., a Stevens Point native, died Monday, July 19, 2010, at Chambrel at Pinecastle, Fla.
Services are pending. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Contributions in her memory may be made to Odyssey Healthcare.
Arrangements were handled by Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services, Ocala, Fla. Condolences may be offered online at www.hiers-baxley.com.
Mrs. Dragoiu was born March 24, 1912, in Stevens Point, a daughter of the late Julius and Mary (Lodzinski) Pawlowski.
After graduating from nursing school, she moved to Texas and California, then joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1942. She attended Air Evac School and was in one of the first groups of nurses to become Flight Nurses in the Army. Her assignments were to fly to Asiatic-Pacific islands to pick-up wounded soldiers and deliver/supervise care to them aboard cargo planes to the U.S. Army Hospital in Hawaii.
She was transferred to the U.S. Air Corps before returning to the Army and was featured in a Feb. 12, 1945, article in LIFE magazine about her experiences. She completed many missions before the end of World War II and after the war she served in Japan during the Korean War and then in Germany. She was promoted to major and assigned as chief nurse at Fort Riley, Kan., until she retired after 20-plus years of service.
She was married to Ely Dragoiu for 54 years. He preceded her in death.
They initially retired to Denver, Colo., then to Manitowoc and moved in 2004 to Ocala, Fla., to be near their niece, Dawn Sabol, and her husband, Dr. Edward Sabol.
Survivors include her niece, Dawn (Edward) Sabol, Ocala, Fla.; and several other nieces and nephews.
She was also preceded in death by five brothers, Frank, Edwin, Earl, Stanley and Leonard Pavlowski; and four sisters, Isabel Gavin, Sophie Klinkert, Irene Krueger and Grace Moor.