Lutz grew up bilingual, a native English and German speaker, which would later make her an asset during World War II.

This was a time in which many Americans were angry and suspicious towards German-Americans, and during the course of the war the government registered nearly half a million "enemy alien" civilians.

[6] Lutz spent her early months as a general duty nurse in the Station Hospital at Selfridge Field, in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

[6] This highly classified unit consisted of C-47 cargo planes which flew to the battlefront with ammunition and supplies and then took wounded-emergency cases back to the hospitals.

In January 1943, the three nurses were en route to an oversees assignment as part of the evacuation squadron sent into active duty.

Lutz participated in six separate battle campaigns over a 20-month period, accompanied air combat missions, and conducted all-weather medical evacuations in Tunisia, Italy and France.

She once made four sorties in a single day onto the Anzio beachhead flight-strip while it was still under shell fire from the German army.

The pilot lost control of the plane and it crashed on the side of Mont Pilat (Crest de la Perdrix) in Massif central, at the south of Saint-Etienne and Lyon.

Lutz earned six battle stars: Tunisia, Sicily, Rome-Arno, Southern France, and North Apennines.

Lutz was the second woman to receive the decoration (after Amelia Earhart), awarded for distinguished performance in an aerial flight.

It reads as follows: For extraordinary achievement—throughout her long period of service, 1st Lt. Lutz distinguished herself through superior professional skill and courage.

Her selfless devotion to duty and outstanding proficiency have reflected the highest credit upon herself and the armed forces of the United States.

[5][16] On February 13, 1945, Aleda E. Lutz was designated a U.S. Army hospital ship in accordance to international practice, as set forth in the provisions of the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.

In July 1945, Lutz's sister Hilda, a Saginaw General Hospital nurse, was a special guest at the Detroit Municipal Airport where the U.S. Army Air Forces were presented with an $80,000 check from the Women's International Bowling Congress for a new C-47 airplane to be named Miss Nightingale III, in Lutz's honor.

The effort to rename the facility after Lutz, who was an athlete in bowling and half a dozen other sports, continued to be recognized by women bowlers.

The vast majority of Saginaw citizens thought the hospital was already named after Lutz—after all, it was dedicated in her honor in 1950 and again in 1988—but it had not been officially recognized by Congress.

WIBC delegates spread the word that legislation needed to be approved by Congress before the center could officially be named after Lutz.

[17] A stele (monument) exists at the crash site which states Lutz was the first American woman who died in action during World War II.