North Vietnam had a.
total of 1 million dead and 600,000 wounded. South Vietnam had.
224,000 killed and 1 million wounded (Marc).
The women who entered the Vietnam War were often looking for.
adventures, seeing the world and to escape boredom. Others wanted.
to be patriotic and support the armed forces or have a sense of.
helping. The women who volunteered were often from small towns and.
blue collar communities all across America. These women were.
lifesavers, big sisters, mothers and angels. .
For the women who worked in hospitals, they have never been.
trained for the agonizing scenes they witnessed from burns to.
amputations to deaths on a daily basis. These women witnessed.
firsthand, the horrors and cost of this war. Nurses had to be officers.
and over the age of twenty-one to serve in the combat zones. Their.
tour of duty usually was one year; they were always in and out of the.
war (Marshall 4).
Class distinctions were forgotten about in the operation rooms.
between nurses and doctors. They worked as teammates. The hospital.
were not always as nice as it seemed like. Sexist discrimination was.
present in some hospitals. Some female nurses were not allowed to.
the hospital compound for almost an entire year. Doctors were free to.
roam, some often flew model airplanes after their rounds while nurses.
remained on call (Coppola 35).
One-hundred-thirty-seven former Vietnam nurses were.
surveyed by Louisiana's Northwestern State University and more than.
half of them confessed to have been sexually harassed, abuses ranging.
from rape and assault to insults and unwanted attention. Nurses were.
offered the Bronze Star for sleeping with their commanders, others.
threatened for saying "no" with a court martial. Lola McGourty, then a.
21-year old second lieutenant, was sexually threatened by a crazed.
patient, when she approached her commander, he scolded her for.
being "unduly seductive" (Coppola 35).
Navy nurses lived and worked on hospital ships.
