{"id":34991,"date":"2023-11-08T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=34991"},"modified":"2023-11-10T06:45:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T06:45:26","slug":"female-vietnam-vets-recall-harrowing-stories-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=34991","title":{"rendered":"Female Vietnam vets recall harrowing stories of service"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Then-1st Lt. Edie Meeks, poses in front of a Vietnam field hospital during the Vietnam War. Meeks, an Army nurse, was inspired to commission into the Army by her brother who joined the Marine Corps.
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WASHINGTON \u2013 As the air raid sirens and mortar blasts went off, medical evacuation crews dropped the wounded off at a hospital near the demilitarized zone. Young nurses worked around-the-clock to treat the injured despite attacks from the Viet Cong in South Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Some of the nurses never made it back and are honored on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Many of the other women gather each year at the Vietnam Women\u2019s Memorial for camaraderie and to share stories of the past. This Saturday several of those women will celebrate the memorial\u2019s 30th anniversary in Washington.<\/p>\n

Call to Service<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many female combat veterans were following in their family members\u2019 footsteps when they joined the Army.<\/p>\n

Two former first\u00a0lieutenants described their family connections. Patti Ehline\u2019s father served in World War II and Vietnam. Her future husband was also joining the Army and would serve in Vietnam with her. Mary \u201cEdie\u201d McCoy Meeks commissioned into the military because her brother joined the Marines.<\/p>\n

Capt. Diane Carlson Evans became an Army nurse because her brother served in the 101st Airborne Division, and then her other brother was drafted. Mary Breed, also a first lieutenant, joined after losing family members and a friend. Her brother was injured in Vietnam in 1968; a friend from her church was killed; and her girlfriend\u2019s brother died.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was closely affected by the war,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Eileen King, then a second lieutenant, didn\u2019t have any family members who served but felt a call to service. \u201cThere was a lot of criticism about America, what it stood for, especially about our military,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to serve my country. I felt very protective of my nation and the military. I wanted to do my bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurse Recruiting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jobs for women were limited in the 1960s. Many of the female nurse candidates were in nursing school when Army recruiters contacted them about joining the Army Nurse Corps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were desperate for nurses over in Vietnam. They were desperate for stateside nurses to take care of the wounded because the Army hospitals needed staff,\u201d Breed said.<\/p>\n

As a student nurse, Breed received permission from her parents to enlist and sought out an Army recruiter. \u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019m going to graduate next year as a registered nurse. How do I go to Vietnam?\u2019\u201d Carlson Evans said. \u201cThe Army offered the Army Student Nurse Program because there was a shortage of military nurses. They paid my tuition, my books and my uniforms my senior year in college. It was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

They all said they passed their state boards, enlisted as private first classes for basic training, and then commissioned into the Army Nurse Corps.<\/p>\n

In the trenches<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Viet Cong dug tunnels under the hospitals and stole equipment while the nurses worked in shifts that lasted 12 hours or longer. Soldiers would go into the tunnels to retrieve equipment but some would die from fatal cobra attacks.<\/p>\n

The nurses learned techniques such as starting intravenous lines in the dark, performing amputations and working with burn patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to measure up. When a Soldier came in and his life depended on us, we learned quickly,\u201d Evans said. \u201cWe were the youngest nurses ever sent into battle. We had energy and stamina. We wanted to do our job. We were given a mission. We wanted to get each other home alive.<\/p>\n

The men sandbagged the hooches and hospitals as they were rocketed and mortared. They were in the guard towers, some standing guard, getting killed, protecting us. We were in the hospitals saving lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said they heard artillery rounds 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n

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\n Former Army Capt. Diane Carlson Evans, who served as an Army Nurse during the Vietnam War, stands before the Vietnam Women’s Memorial. Carlson Evans fought for 10 years to have the monument built at the National Mall. Nov. 11 was the 30th anniversary of the memorial.
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\u201cWe got used to the sounds of war, but we pulled together as a team. The men valued our service, and we valued theirs,\u201d Carlson Evans said.<\/p>\n

Breed worked at the 18th Surgical Hospital, which sat close to the demilitarized zone, and the 95th Evacuation Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you would have at least four doctors [working] on the same patient at the same time,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the U.S., doctors take turns. Everybody had to work at once as quickly as possible to save the patient\u2019s life and then move on to the next patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a tremendous team effort in caring for our patients,\u201d Capt. Elaine Niggemann added. \u201cWe worked long hours but everyone pitched in. Some days were very hard but the camaraderie among us was great. It was enlightening to go from a college atmosphere to a war zone caring for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Memorable Patients<\/strong><\/p>\n

While nurses remember quite a few of their patients, each of the nurses have memorable patients from Vietnam.<\/p>\n

King worked with a pilot who had lost both of his legs and one of his arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was obvious he was going to die. I don\u2019t remember his name; I feel so guilty about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said she went to the bathroom and when she came back, she saw that someone had left a letter for him.<\/p>\n

It was from his wife and had a photo of his wife and child in it. \u201cShe told him she loved him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Although King was tired from working a double shift, she said she didn\u2019t want to leave. King finally had to rest for a few hours before her next shift. The pilot died 20 minutes later.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, I wondered if I had just stayed, would he have lived longer? But I did my best,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Edie Meeks said an encounter with a young Soldier from Kansas still haunts her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read a letter to him from his mom. She talked about his dad just coming in from pheasant hunting with his dog. At the end, she said, \u2018We\u2019re so proud of you, son.\u2019 Three days later, he died,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Breed said she was in civilian clothes shopping at a shoe store on Fort Dix, New Jersey, when a former Soldier approached her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018You were my nurse in Vietnam,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cHe told me I took off his leg. I took off so many legs. I couldn\u2019t remember each patient at that time and didn\u2019t want to tell him that. I was still grieving the loss of my father at the time. I didn\u2019t even hug him.<\/p>\n

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\n Then-1st Lt. Patti Ehline poses with comedian Bob Hope. Ehline joined the Army to follow in the footsteps of her father who also served during the Vietnam War and in World War II.
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\u201cNow I would give him the biggest hug in the world,\u201d she said. \u201cI asked him how he recognized me, and he said, \u2018When you\u2019re dying, you remember the last person you heard. You said to me, \u2018I\u2019ll take good care of you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ehline grew attached to a 10-year-old Vietnamese boy named Mai Van Bo. \u201cIt was the only day I cried in Vietnam,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was the day I had to send him back to his village. I had become very close to him in the months he was at our hospital. He was paralyzed from the waist down, and I feared he wouldn\u2019t survive in the village. His mom and I both cried.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niggemann worked three consecutive 12-hour shifts while caring for a young South Vietnamese man in the burn unit. On day four, he had a cardiac arrest and passed away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very sad and one of the few times I cried at work,\u201d she said. \u201cI will always remember him and the delightful conversations we had before he died. He told me about his family and children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five years ago, she found his sister while searching the internet and spoke to her on the phone. \u201cIt was an emotional conversation,\u201d she said. \u201cI was able to answer some of the questions she and her family had regarding their loved one [and] tell her how much the nurses cared for and liked her brother; and that he did not die alone. It was an incredibly healing phone call for both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life After Vietnam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because of their hands-on experience, many of the Vietnam nurses went on to become physicians, dentists, civilian nurses and other high-ranking positions which were uncommon to women in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n

Evans served as head nurse in a surgical intensive care unit and recovery room at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, and then founded the Vietnam Women\u2019s Memorial in Washington.<\/p>\n

Ehline serves on boards for the Vietnam Veterans of America to fight for the rights of veterans with PTSD.<\/p>\n

Niggemann went to medical school and became a doctor.<\/p>\n

Breed worked as an ICU nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs for 15 years, as a missionary nurse for two years and then in the operating room.<\/p>\n

King went on to practice law for 10 years, then she sat on the Superior Court of California. Now, she serves on the California Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

Advice for the Next Generation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nurses faced mortar attacks and worked long shifts from Vietnam to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. For these Vietnam nurses, they said they\u2019d do it again in a heartbeat and recommend service to the next generation of nurses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an honor to serve in the Army Nurse Corps. I would do it all over again,\u201d Niggemann said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two years changed my life, and I\u2019d do it all again in a minute. Don\u2019t just sit on the sidelines of life. Step up and participate,\u201d Meeks said. \u201cFor the nurses after me, talk to each other, get help if you need it. We don\u2019t have to carry everything alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage young people to think about the Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, some area of service,\u201d Evans said. \u201cI\u2019m biased. I liked the Army. I liked boots on the ground. I wanted to be close to where the fighting was. Serving our country makes us more united; taking that oath to protect the Constitution and our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED LINKS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vietnam nurses celebrate 30th anniversary of memorial on Veterans Day<\/a><\/p>\n

Army News Service<\/a><\/p>\n

ARNEWS archives<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then-1st Lt. Edie Meeks, poses in front of a Vietnam field hospital during the Vietnam War. Meeks, an Army nurse, was inspired to commission into the Army by her brother who joined the Marine Corps. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL WASHINGTON \u2013 As the air raid sirens and mortar blasts went off, medical evacuation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34993,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34991"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34997,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34991\/revisions\/34997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}