Remembering Them Forever (RTF)!

Download bio/life story

Military Information:

• US Army
• Bronze Star Medal
• Vietnam Veteran
• QR Code
• 2 War Veteran
• Operation Desert Storm
• Lt. Col. (Lieutenant Colonel)
• Good Conduct Medal
• US Army Reserve
• 1-Alpha List
• National/American Defense Service Medal/Award
• Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal
• Vietnam Service Medal
• Armed Forces Reserve Medal
• Army Service Ribbon
• Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

Bio:

I was born November 5, 1944, in Washington D.C. at the tail end of WW II with my father MIA as a pilot shot down in Italy. He was able to walk out and get picked up to return. He temporarily went back to civilian life after the war but returned and our family began our life as an Air Force family with 5 years in England, 2 years in France, 3 years in California, and 2 years in Michigan where I graduated from high school. Being a military brat, I am sure had a big influence on my choice as a military nurse.

I joined the Army June 11, 1965, as an Army student nurse and graduated from my nursing program in June 1966. Upon completion of the required state board exam, I joined the Army Nurse Corp January 1967, completing my basic training at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX with the rank of 2nd. Lieutenant. My first orders were to Fort Bragg, NC where I served for a month at the hospital on a male orthopedic ward as a staff nurse.

I got orders to go to Vietnam and was in country by April 1967. Landing in Saigon, I processed in and was stationed at 8th Field Hospital, Nha Trang where I served for one year. I had traveled to Vietnam with a nurse, Rhea Roy who had been with me in basic training and was also assigned with me for the year as my roommate. We were in the city with an Air Force base on one side and a few blocks off the beach front on the other side with local homes populate around us separated by bobbed wire. My longest assignment was on the surgical convalescent ward of 120 beds but also was rotated to the surgical ICU and medical ward. I was promoted to 1st. Lieutenant in January 1968. Part of my duties included responder to mass casualty situation that occurred throughout the year. The team would give emergency treatment to stabilize the soldier as they were triage for surgery. During that tour, in January 1968 was the Tet Offensive. The city of Nha Trang was attacked and the civilian hospital captured. There was a mass casualty situation at our military hospital with patient pouring in and overflow stretchers lined up on the walkways between hospital wards for days. We went from working 12 hour shifts 6 days a week to working till you were too tired, sleeping and returning to work again as long as you could. The excess of patients was only relieved when we could medivac patients out of the country to get back to a workable patient census.

My next duty assignment was to Fort Carson, Colorado where I work on a 52-bed male orthopedic unit as head nurse. As I was returning to my assigned hospital in at Fort Carson there were several nurses leaving with orders for Vietnam. My orthopedic ward was mostly returning young soldiers wounded in Vietnam, many needing additional surgeries. There were few nurses and staffing was mainly corpsmen. I stayed for 14 months returning to civilian nursing for 4 months in Wisconsin. The transition to civilian nursing was disappointing as the responsibilities and skill level required of civilian nurses seemed lacking.

I returned to Vietnam as a Captain November 1969 with my tour being split. The first 6 months at Chu Lai which was on the shore again with Air Force, Navy, and Army units around the 91st Evacuation Hospital. It was the location where a nurse, Sharon Lane died while protecting her patients during an enemy mortar attack June 8,1969. I worked as head nurse on a medical ward with the main patient diagnosis of hepatitis and malaria.

My second assignment was to Saigon at the 3rd Field Hospital. I was head nurse on the renal dialysis unit, a special ICU unit serving seriously injured soldiers who had an infection that was causing kidney shut down leading to eventually death. The goal was to treat and stabilize them to evacuate on to Japan and on to the states. There was a huge effort with all the special support money could buy, but sadly the death rate was ultimately total.

I had decided while in Vietnam to apply for Nurse Anesthetist school and was accepted with a brief hold at Fort Benning waiting for the next class to begin. Phase one was at Beaumont Hospital, El Paso, TX composed of didactic studies. Phase two was center at Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver, Colorado with a few months at Fort Carson, Colorado where clinical practice was taught. My first assignment as a nurse anesthetist was at Fort Dix, NJ for several months before leaving the Army in 1972 for reserve duty that lasted until I was called up for Dessert Storm January 1991. During my reserve service I was promoted to Major in 1969 and LTC in 1986.

After Dessert Storm I returned to reserve status, retiring November 5, 2004.