Interview of retired Colonel Eleanor M. Carey on her U.S. Air Force career and her service in the Vietnam War

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Description:

Retired Air Force Colonel Eleanor M. Carey talks about her youth and education in Pennsylvania, her long U.S. Air Force career and her service in the Vietnam War. After graduating from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, Cary says that she joined the Air Force on October 19, 1955. She says that after basic and advanced training, she was first stationed in Beirut, Lebanon and later volunteered for duty in Vietnam when that war heated up. Cary talks about treating Vietnamese civilians as part of the military's MEDCAP program, her living conditions at U.S. base at Cam Ranh Bay and working as a flight nurse in air-evac and taking causalities to medical care directly from the battlefield. Carey says that as a capstone to her Vietnam service, she escorted future Senator John McCain when he was released from a North Vietnamese prison in 1973. She says that she retired from the Air Force in October 1979 and that she "loved every minute" of her career. Carey is interviewed by Ruth F. Stewart and Patricia Martin.

Date Issued:

2007-03-26T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project

Place:

Vietnam

Subject Topic:

Career in military nursing, Military life, Nurses, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Veterans, Women veterans, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Participation, Female, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Civilian relief, and Aviation nursing

Subject Name:

Carey, Eleanor M. (Eleanor Margaret), 1928-2013, Carey, Eleanor M. (Eleanor Margaret), 1928-2013, McCain, John, 1936-2018, United States, Air Force, United States, and Air Force

Subject Genre:

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

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5p69m