Women In Vietnam

| October 17, 2020

Army recruiting poster

This is a 3-part pdf of the history of the history of American servicewomen in Vietnam: the WACs, WAFs, WAVES, and WMs.  It’s a pdf, which does not let me copy text to this blog.  But there are plenty of photos, and please note that not all the gals were nurses. Most of the Navy women were nurses on hospital ships, but some were not. They were WAVES, stationed ashore.

Sorry, guys, but the Donut Dollies are not included because they were not part of the military. They were ARC employees.

https://www.vietnamwar50th.com/assets/1/7/US_Servicewomen_in_the_Vietnam_War.pdf

Category: Historical, Vietnam

17 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
5th/77th FA

Great Linky Ex…Thanks…Imma forwarding this one out to certain Lady Friends that have a keen interest in this subject.

Wasn’t too disappointed in not seeing any donut dollies, but I musta missed the pictures of Saggy Maggie rappelling into the bush with Jann Spann to perform emergency life saving surgery. And where were the China Beach Nurses? Specifically Colleen McMurphy. Seeing her causes medical conditions for me…you know…increased heart rate…shortness of breath…possible swelling of extremities.

On a serious note, this post reminds me of a book I have had for decades and just recently re-read. The title is No Time for Tombstones by James and Marti Hefley. It is the story of a group of American Missionaries and Nurses that were captured during Tet and the horrors of that POW March. Almost made the Bataan March a walk thru the park. Betty Olsen was one of the nurses that died on that March, basically murdered by her captors even as she tended their sick and forgave them for what they were doing to her.

Quartermaster

You can search for the title on Alibris. They often have books that are out of print.

PARANAH

Gonna order it today….thanks!

5th/77th FA

Not sure Ml’Lady, It was gifted to me years ago, a First (ht 2 ‘beans) Edition Paper Back June of ’74, Tyndale House out of Wheaton, Illy noise, LoC Card # 74-80772 ISBN 8423-4719-4 cloth; 8423-4720-8 paper. I used to keep it kinda sorta handy, way back yonder, for those idjits that wanted to talk about how the peace loving peoples of the PDRofNV never attacked anything but Military Targets.

Not sure if the Missionary Organizations that were working there then are still up and running, one was the Christian and Missionary Alliance, 260 West 44th St, NY, NY, 10036, Missionary Nurse Betty Olsen’s Memorial, the other was the Henry Blood Memorial, Wycliffe Bible Translators, PO Box 1960, Santa Ana CA, 92702.

It should be required reading for anyone defending, as Patton and I both like to say, The Godless Communists.

5th/77th FA

Algorebull’s amazing inherwebz to the rescue. This is a very very very condensed version of the book. Disclaimer…reading this book WILL piss you off.

https://www.cmalliance.org/about/history/in-the-line-of-fire/olsen

AW1Ed

Also available at Amazon.

No Time for Tombstones

Paperback price must be a typo.

Zulu02

As an interesting bit of trivia, in particular the Pan Am flight attendants (only call them attendants if you want your face slapped – they were stewards and stewardesses) who flew in and out and R&R flights were issued Army ID cards in case they were captured. Sure it happened with the other airlines as well. And their war stories are a riot. Ended up marrying one of them is how I know.

Combat Historian

Our allies the South Vietnamese had numerous females serving in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF). These women risked their lives and the lives of their family members to fight for their country’s fragile survival. There is a section within a VNAF historical website devoted to RVNAF military women. The service of these brave South Vietnamese women shouldn’t be forgotten…

http://www.vnafmamn.com/women_inARVN.html

rgr769

Many don’t know, but only eight women in our military died in Vietnam, seven Army and one Air Force. They were all nurses. Only one was killed by enemy fire; the rest died in aircraft crashes and from illness. The most senior one, an LTC, died of a stroke. The one who was killed by enemy fire was a nurse at Chu Lai’s evac hospital when it was hit with a 122mm rocket. These rockets were notoriously inaccurate. It is unlikely the hospital was a target. It was well known the hospital had a ward full of wounded enemy POW’s.

The only American females I ever saw during my tour we’re nurses and doughnut dollies. I spent an evening trying to chat up some of the nurses in Chu Lai at their officers’ club. They wanted nothing to do with a boonie rat officer like me. One look at my jungle boots and pin on brass told them my job. The male doctors and MSC officers seemed to be the ones they were interested in.

26Limabeans

Lots of Nurses from the 95th Evac in the Da Nang area circa 1970.
Jan Spann was not one of them:

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=73408

Somehow she caught the PTSD while not there:

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=74440

Combat Historian

You didn’t run into Maggie DeSanti the heroic Huey nurse? (sarc)

rgr769

Nope. Never any nurses on a Huey. Only men on Huey crews.

Combat Historian

Yup, no female helo crew members in Viet of the Nam. Maggoty Maggie is full of shit.

PARANAH

Gonna order it today….thanks!