Interview of Marian Weller on her career in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and service during the Vietnam War

Description:

In a poignant oral history interview, Marian Weller talks about her long career in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and her service during the Vietnam War. Weller says that she comes from a family with a long military history and that she even graduated as a second lieutenant from the Army Student Nurse program in 1967. She talks about her basic training at Fort Sam Houston, working at Walter Reed Hospital in 1968 and being shipped to Vietnam in February 1969 to join the 95th Evac Hospital, across the harbor from Da Nang. She talks about her duty in the "yuck unit" working with patients with disfiguring battlefield injuries, the civilian casualties brought in by the choppers, life on the base, being in a helicopter crash, atrocities committed by the Viet Cong, the corruption which was part of daily life, trying to clean blood off concrete floors and the relentless tropical heat and humidity. She says that she rotated back to the States in 1970 and served at hospitals in Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas and the Philippines and finally retired as a major in 2002. Weller talks candidly about developing medical and emotional problems in the years after her Vietnam service and says that she was finally diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial sent her into a three day crying jag. Weller is interviewed by Ruth F. Stewart.

Date Issued:

2004-02-17T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project

Subject Topic:

Career in military nursing, Knowledge, Nursing, Health, Military life, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Veterans, Women veterans, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Participation, Female, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Medical care, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Civilian relief, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Atrocities, and Post-traumatic stress disorder

Subject Name:

Weller, Marian E. (Marian Elizabeth), 1946-, Weller, Marian E. (Marian Elizabeth), 1946-, Weller, Marian E. (Marian Elizabeth), 1946-, Weller, Marian E. (Marian Elizabeth), 1946-, United States, Army Nurse Corps, United States, and Army

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, and Personal narratives, American

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5qx48