Women+Who+Served

Women Who Served

illyria.com == In 1967, The Government passed legislation to bring the Soldier Satiation Act (SSA) into fruition. Before this time, soldiers were deprived of fitting customs during their tour of duty. The act called for women to volunteer to serve in Vietnam as servers, not ranked soldiers. They were assigned to fulfill the basic needs of the men serving our country, including proper culinary preparation, and often basic love needs. With generous federal funding, the government was able to create food-tent's in which women served quality meals to deserving soldiers. ==

To read the poems and stories of women who were in Vietnam visit:
http://www.vietnamwomensmemorial.org/stories.php

==** There is no exact number of how many women went to the Vietnam War and served our country, but it ranges from 4,000 to 15,000. Women served in every branch of the war, but over 90% of them served as nurses. Other women in the war served as physicians, air traffic controllers, intelligence officers, and clerks. Some women even served as soldiers in Vietnam. There were eight U.S. servicewoman who were killed in Vietnam who are recognized on "The Wall" in Washington D.C. **==

== The nurses were volunteers who signed up to go to Vietnam for a number of reasons including to serve their country and have an opportunity to see the world and embark on somewhat of an adventure. Because of the of the helicopters, the nurses were able to treat wounded men soon after they had been injured. This provided the men with more of a fighting chance to live and the nurses were thus able to save 98% of the men who made it to the hospital. These women most likely found that although seeing injured and dying soldiers was sometimes hard to handle, they had a rewarding experience of saving lives. ==

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== Women were a major part in the war as volunteers, even if they did the same jobs as the men. Other than nursing where most women helped out there were many women who decided to help out in other ways such as joining the Air Force, Army, Marines. They server along side the men in the battles and were a major help to them. Though there are not many women who help a position of power in the militarty but when they did it was importaint, for example there were only nine women who served in the navy that were officers.(VWMF) ==

== Lieutenant Colonel Annie Ruth Graham was one of the women who served in the Vietnam War. She was a Chief Nurse at 91st Evacuation Hospital in Tuy Hoa. Annie suffered a stroke in August of 1968 and was sent to an evacuation hospital in Japan where she died four days later. ==



To read more about the Women who served our country during the Vietnam War visit:
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The Womans Vietnam War Memorial

== The memorial was dedicated as part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1993, to honor the women who served in the war. in 1984 there was an organization called The Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, in Washington DC to inform the public that women did serve in the war, their role there, and to oversee reserch based on psychological issues related to there time of service.(VWMF) ==

== On The Vietnam Veterans Memorial there are eight women recognized on the wall. Of those eight there was only one who died in actual combat. Two others were in a plane crash, one in a helicopter crash and two from illness. The one who died in combat was hit by shrapnel after an attack and she received an bronze star for her heroism. (VWMF) ==

This is a video of Elizabeth Allen, who served as a nurse in the frontline during the Vietnam War.
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== This is a photo of Elizabeth Allen when she was serving as a nurse in the Vietnam war. Allen served in Vietnam from April 1967-1968. Her reason for joining was to help men like her brother, who was a soldier in the war. Not only did Allen want to be a nurse in Vietnam, but she requested frontline duty. She was first assigned to 12th Evac Hospital at Cu Chi where she quickly learned the reality of this gruesome war. She then transferred to another field hospital in Pleiku. While she was serving there they came into an attack under Tet Offensive. Allen didn't take cover during this attack, she put on a helmet and went out to save hurt soldiers and civilians. When her service was up in 1968 she left Vietnam, but continued to serve for 14 years in the U.S. Army Reserves. ==



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This is a story about the greatly respected nurse Martha Raye, who served in Vietnam.
"Almost everyone knows about all of Bob Hope’s trips to Vietnam. He would do his annual Christmas Shows for TV, which were recorded live at some of the safest bases in Vietnam, while surrounded by TV cameras, reporters and lots of tanks and protective armed troops. I was at his Christmas Day show back in 1966, just north of Saigon. I enjoyed it very much. It was one of a few good memories that I have of my Tour of Duty. But, meeting Martha Raye – better known to the troops, as Colonel Maggie – was the highlight event of the year for me. I met her in Phu Loi, South Vietnam, in the early part of 1967. She came to our small air field base camp, without any fan fare at all. She just arrived and began causally talking to us guys there. We of course knew of her from all her old movies. I made mention to her that I wanted a photo to show my mother – "who was her biggest fan" - and she turned that into a 5 minute comedy routine about how only the real old folks remembered her. She teased me about that and then put her arms around me. She made fun of everything, including referring to herself as The Big Mouth! The guys in my unit, the 128th Assault Helicopter Company, were really impressed that she had come all the way out to see us. We never had any big name entertainers ever come through our camp; so her visit was something very special to all of us. Later that day, I got my chance to get up on stage (the top of a flat bed truck) with her and get my photo taken with her. I found her to be a very real person, and she gave you the feeling that she really cared about you. There were neither reporters, nor TV cameras on her visit. She was there because we were there. At that time, her reputation was rapidly growing among veterans. We heard many stories about her from the Special Forces Units out in Boondocks. When we would fly into almost any small SF camp, the guys would speak most highly of her. She was their hero for sure. She had been traveling to Vietnam (I am told that she paid her own way) and spent weeks, and sometimes up to six months at a time in country. She kept this pace up for over nine years during the Vietnam War. She was not there just to entertain the troops, but also engaged in nursing work where ever it was needed. She spent most of her time out in the field, or in the hospitals. She went to some of the most dangerous and remote locations in Nam. She was not looking for any publicity, or photo opportunities; she went where she knew the need was the greatest. She visited base camps that no other entertainers dared to go to. She walked through the mud and rain and took the heat and mosquitoes all in stride. No one ever remembers her complaining about the food, the weather, transportation, or life in general. She spent time at places that did not have hot showers, let alone places for women to use a restroom. She had to endure the same hardships that the GIs did. Her job was to keep up our spirits and make us feel loved and appreciated. She didn't come to Nam for a visit; she came to work.. That for her meant sometimes going back and using her nursing skills and help with patients. There were many stories going around about all the battles she had been in while in country. She did not try to shelter herself from harm’s way, and she refused over and over again to allow anyone to risk his life to protect, or evacuate her to a safer place if she happened to be subjected to any kind of enemy attack. There is one story that made the rounds with the Special Forces units that we ran into, but somehow never made it into the newspapers, or on the evening news shows, at that time, that I can recall. I have some of the facts but not all of them. But this story reveals the real character of this wonderful woman warrior. The story relates how Colonel Maggie, who was also a trained RN before going into the entertainment field, went to entertain and visit a very small Special Forces camp. (It could have been at Soc Trang, around the early part of 1967.) I was told that she and some clarinet player, had gone to the camp to entertain, but while they were there the NVA attacked the camp. Mortar rounds and small arms fire were incoming. It appeared that there was a full-scale assault on the base camp. It was uncertain if the camp would be able to hold off the assault.. The camp medic was hit, and so with her being a nurse, she took over and began to assist with the treatment of the wounded who kept pouring into the aid station. The camp was in great danger for several hours of being over run. The higher-ups in the military were trying to dispatch helicopters to the camp, but a combination of very bad weather and heavy fighting made that task a very dangerous mission for any crews that would be trying to come in to get the wounded, or to pull her out to a safer place. All this time, she was subjecting herself to the dangers of flying shrapnel and incoming automatic rifle rounds. She tended to the task that she was trained for – treating the wounded. She was said to have remained calm and fully active in doing her work – even with all the action taking place just outside the aid station. She kept focused on treating the wounded and did not seek shelter or safety for herself. She kept refusing any and all rescue missions. She spent hours putting her skills as a nurse, to use treating patients and even assisting with surgery. She was in the operating room for 13 hours; she then went through the aid station talking with the wounded and making sure that they were okay. It was said that she worked without sleep or rest, until all the wounded were either treated, or evacuated out on a Huey (helicopter). She did not leave that camp until she was satisfied that all wounded were taken care of. This is just one of the many untold stories about Martha Raye – but ask enough Vietnam veterans about her and you will find even more tales of Colonel Maggie. She finally received some long overdue honors before she died. They ranged from the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1968 for entertaining troops in Vietnam to the 1993 Presidential Medal of Freedom for her lifetime of dedication to America. "Colonel Maggie," Martha Raye, was an honorary member of the Special Forces. She had received her prized Green Beret and the title of Lieutenant Colonel from President Lyndon B. Johnson, himself" (McDonald).

To read more stories about women who served in the Vietnam war http://history1900s.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=history1900s&cdn=education&tm=10&f=10&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.vietnamexp.com/Womenexp/womenindex.htm