She was assigned to 2/13th Australian General Hospital in Johor Baharu. Constance Edwards of Frankfort, Illinois served as an officer in the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War from 1966 until 1967. 265,000 women served during Vietnam. President Nixon believed his Vietnamization ...read more, American women’s history has been full of pioneers: Women who fought for their rights, worked hard to be treated equally and made great strides in fields like science, politics, sports, literature and art. © 2020 A&E Television Networks, LLC. The war never ends. Nearly 10,000 women served in Vietnam during the 20-year … These are just a few of the remarkable accomplishments by ...read more, Of the nearly 1 million Americans who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War era (1964-75), many were or went on to become famous in diverse fields such as politics, entertainment, sports and journalism. On Election Day in 1920, millions of American women exercised this right for the first time. The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. No WACs died during the conflict. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Copyright © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc.All rights reserved. The Vietnam War remains probably the most important war for America since World War Two. Director: Randall Wallace | Stars: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott. Morley Safer introduces his story on female combat nurses who served in the Vietnam War. Annie Healy and Jan McCarthy were two nurses featured in Our Vietnam Nurses by Annabelle Brayley, a collection of compelling stories of Australian nurses in the Vietnam War. Apart from nurses, only nine Navy women–all officers–served in Vietnam, including Lieutenant Elizabeth G. Wylie, who worked in the Command Information Center on the staff of the Commander of Naval Forces in Saigon beginning in June 1967; and Commander Elizabeth Barrett, who in November 1972 became the first female naval line officer to hold command in a combat zone. The fifteen stories show a side to the Vietnam War that has received little recognition but played an important part in shaping Australia’s presence in the war. Captain Mary Therese Klinker, one of the eight military women killed in Vietnam, was the flight nurse on the U.S. Air Force C-5A Galaxy that crashed April 1975 near Saigon. Anti-war marches and other protests, such as the ones organized by ...read more, Some 350,000 women served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, both at home and abroad. One tour in Vietnam was more than enough for Janis Nark, who served as a nurse during the Vietnam War from 1970 to 1971. 20% of Army nurses were men. They served as flight nurses, in hospitals throughout Vietnam, and on board the hospital ships USS Repose and Sanctuary. In 1988, years after the war had ended, some of these women demanded to be recognized for their sacrifices, and called for a monument to be built in memory of their efforts. In Vietnam nurses could be male or female, however the majority were women with the average age being 23. According to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation, 59 female civilians died during the conflict. He wanted to thank combat nurses for their service. The great majority of the military women who served in Vietnam were nurses. The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news. Did you know? They included the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, who on March 10, 2010, were awarded the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal. Called by many the turning point in the Vietnam War, the Tet offensive was a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and small towns in South Vietnam … Shortly before Dave deployed, he … 11,000 served in in Vietnam. Many of them worked on behalf of the American Red Cross, Army Special Services, United Service Organizations (USO), Peace Corps and various religious groups such as Catholic Relief Services. On this Memorial Day, as we honor current health care workers on the frontlines battling coronavirus, a look back at combat nurses who served during the Vietnam War. All were volunteers, and they ranged from recent college graduates in their early 20s to seasoned career women in their 40s. At its peak in 1970, WAC presence in Vietnam numbered some 20 officers and 130 enlisted women. Carlson … Although they were required to spend only six months in the War zone, some opted to extend their stay so as to help the injured. 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