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Retired military nurse from Lacey, 95, to raise 12 flag at military tribute game

A Lacey woman is raising the 12 flag at Monday night's Seahawks military tribute game.

Retired Lt. Col. Barbara Nichols is one of the oldest living military nurses in the country. She served in three wars, and has received dozens of awards and honors, including the Bronze Star. She can also trace her family back to the American Revolution.

Whenever the country needed Nichols, she answered the call to service.

During World War II, just out of high school, Nichols helped build Boeing bombers.

“I put the plastic nose on the old B-17 and heard about President Roosevelt starting up the Cadet Nurse Corps,” Nichols explained.

The country was facing a critical nursing shortage.

Nichols jumped at the chance to help.

“I always wanted to be a nurse,” she said. “And at that time, my parents didn’t have the money to pay three years in the hospital for the training.”

Small, at just barely 5 feet tall, she graduated at the top of her nursing class at Everett General Hospital.

She was commissioned in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps a year later eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

She said she had no idea she would become a combat nurse.

“I was very innocent and naïve,” Nichols said with a chuckle. “And I think a majority of us were at the time. It was a different time period.”

A different time as society's views about the role of women were changing.

Nichols served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. She worked as a surgical nurse, providing aid to POWs.

Now 95 years old, she is one of the oldest living military nurse in the U.S.

“I'm very honored I was able to do it and be it,” she said. “And quite humbled and also realizing hey, I'm still here and outlived many through the years.”

So it's only fitting that come Monday when the Seahawks host the Atlanta Falcons, Nichols will be the first "Salute to Service" flag raiser who is female.

On Friday, donning her old uniform, she met with Seahawks players after practice and coach Pete Carroll.

She was even gifted with a personalized jersey.

“Out on the field, here they started coming, and I was just thrilled because I got a hug from most of them and that was wonderful,” Nichols said.

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