I recently read Home Before Morning by Lynda Van Devanter, published in 1983 and republished in 2001—the story of an Army nurse in Vietnam in 1970 in Pleiku 71st Evac Hospital.
My sister-in-law, Laurel, was also an Army nurse in Vietnam in 1968 at the 67th Evac Hospital in Qui Nhon during the Tet Offensive. I wanted to read Home Before Morning for a better understanding of what her life was like there. She never talked about it, but what I have learned from research and reading this book is that no one did or could, which was the problem.
Lynda Van Devanter shares her experience as an OR nurse, working under the intensity of war. The horror she saw in the hospital, trying to save lives, was so intense that it is hard to fathom what they witnessed. Massive casualties brought in by helicopters were injured from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and claymore mines. Women nurses volunteered to help; unlike the young men, who were drafted, and whom they tried to put back together.
I was also surprised to learn that nurses back then were not allowed to hang IV bags. Many skills Van Devanter experienced in the OR were the result of hands-on training, which also complicated nurses’ adjustment back to the United States. Many nurses had the problem of finding jobs that supplied the intensity of trauma that they had grown accustomed to. It made sense to me because Laurel had to be in the ER in a big city after she returned.
I can not imagine the trauma they experienced every day; the long hours went beyond their “scheduled twelve-hour shifts.” The emotions they had to cope with for each patient they helped - sights, sounds, and smells that would remain with them after they returned to the world. The term world meant going back home to the United States.
When they did, nurses at the time were not considered “veterans”; they did not have the same care in VA hospitals. PTSD was beginning to be studied and treated for men, but it was more difficult for women to receive help. Because women were supposed to be stronger and keep their emotions in control. Reading Van Devanter helped me understand how it later became a significant social issue.
Van Devanter struggled with PTSD, finding help, and wanting to help others. Eventually, she entered the field of counseling and became involved with the VVA (Vietnam Veterans of America), forming the VVA Women Veterans Project to address the needs of women veterans. In 1982, she was chosen (the only woman) with eight other male veterans to return to Vietnam as a delegation for peace, and ultimately, going back meant she had to face her ghost.
Do you know personally someone who is a Vietnam Veteran? Did they share their stories with you? Please leave your comment below.
