The document discusses the roles of women during the Vietnam War, noting that American female nurses saved lives while women on the other side of the conflict took lives as soldiers. It describes how American women served as nurses and secretaries, while Vietnamese women on both sides of the war fought as combatants when needed to defend their country from foreign invaders. The memorial serves as a testament to the sacrifice of American military personnel during the Vietnam war.

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A light dusting of snow covers the Three servicemen statue, part of the Vietnam veterans
y"rT;;'1:Y::.Ty:::, D.c. rhe statue, desisned-bvlr,*-r.t" Frederick Hart, was dedicatedwas oeqtcatedin 1984' and shows three unnamed American military members carrying infantry weapons.The memorial serves as a testament to the sacrifice of American military personnel duringthe vietnam war' U's' Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd class Daniel J. Mc|_ain.

2. VietNow
From Vietnam to Today
VietNow National Off icers
Joseph Lewis, President
Edward Banach, Jr., Vice-president
Steven Rucki, Treasurer
Darrell Gilgan, Secretary
Board of Directors
John Bates
John Davis
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National Oflice
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VietNow National Magazine
Publisher: Joe Lewis
Editor: Christian Nelson
Contributing Editors: Matt Davison,
Raymond F. Gustavson, Jr., Ken Nelson,
Karen St. John, and MaryTendall
Magazine Assistant: Cathy Johnson
Staff Photographer: Ken Nelson
Opinions expressed in this magazine do not
necessarily reflect the official policies of the
VietNow organization, and we accept no
responsibility for the accuracy of information
furnished by our contributors. Most articles
in the magazine are also published on our
web site. AII rights revert to contributors"
@VietNow,2015.
We Want Your Suggestions, Stories and photos
lf you have a story to tell, or something youd Iike
to say in an article, send it in for us to look at. lf
you'd like your material returned, include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope. We,ll be extremely
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mitted, but will consult with you on major edits.
Send articles, stories, photos, etc.
Christian Nelson, Editor
VietNow National Magazrne
Post Office Box 117
Oronoco, Minnesota 55960
507.288.4464
editor@vietnow.com
VietNow National Magazine . Winter 2O1S . Volume 25 . Number 4
2 vagetwo The writers, photographers, and artists who make this magazine possible.
3 President's message: Officers and national board in action
Visits to'Washington, D.C., the American Gold Star Mothers convention, and more.
4 Wtry lwrite
After her husband was killed in vietnam, it took over twentyyears until she could
really begin to grieve and heal, and writing played a big role in getting better.
7 ptSO, The hidden heart ofthe warrior
People often think that veterans have little emotion or feelings.
8 lgent Orange: A slow and certain death
After the war, a soldier suffered for decades with prsD. Then things got even worse.
9 Honoring the most-recent casuarties stiil coming home from vietnam
The first Agent orange memoriar in the worrd is in Rockford, Illinois.
10 wtititary women of the Vietnam War
Women played large and important roles in the war. American female n trses saved
American and vietnamese lives, while women on the other side /ooklives.
13 Back to "The World"
After twenty-seven months at an isolated base in Thailand, a soldier goes home and
gets out of the Army, although the trip home isn,t exactly easy.
16 eoof review: Viet Man
A different kind of book about the war by vietNow member Danny Lliteras.
17 Vet2Vet: lt's the VA - what else is new?
Your call is very important to us. Really?
1 8 poetic thoughts: No words are adequate
Poetry and other thoughts about veterans, and war, and more.
20 Our Favorite POWMIA Ftags
POWMIA flags on display and musings on the pOWMIA issue.
AnursetendsapatentlustoutofsurgerynthentensivecarewardofthehospitalshpU.s.s.Repose(AH16).The
shrp is steam ng offthe coast ofVietnam, in 1967. a few miles south ofthe 17th parailel. U.S. Navy photo. page 10.

3. yourmag(tzine WHERE DID THIS C0ME FR0M?
Page 2
This Magazine Is Made Possible by Our
VietNow Writers, Artists, and Photographers
The magazine you're reading didnt magically appear in your hands just because VietNow
National President Joe Lewis called the editor one day and told him to start working on
the next issue. And the magazine didnt get there merely because the printing presses
started rolling without words and photos to print on the pages. And it didn't all get
finished simply because the editor and the creative director got everything figured out
and all put together.
No. This magazine made its way through all phases of production, and landed in your
hands because of the mostly thankless efforts of the people who wrote the articles, and the
people who took the photos.
The VietNow National President could call the editor ten times a day asking, "when's the
magazine going to be finished?" The printer could call and ask the creative director, "Whereb
the magazine files? We're holding the presses for youl" And the editor could sit there
twiddting his thumbs day after day, staring at the blank pages in his layout - and nothing
would happen, nothing would get finished, there would b e to VietNow National Magazine
if not for the work of our writers, poets, photographers, and artists. Without these generous
and talented people, the front and back covers would be blank, and inside would be nothing
more than a sea of glossy white paper, with small black page numbers floating near the bottom
ofeach page.
The people who make the most valuable contributions to our magazine are mostly not
professional writers. And they're mostly not professional photographers and artists. They're
better than that. These are VietNow members who care about veterans, and who have ideas
they'd like to share to help make our lives better.
And some of these people are not even VietNow members - many are not even veterans
- but they all have a feeling oflove and appreciation for veterans, and have an understanding
of the problemsveterans face every day, and theywant to help. That's what makes this maga-
zine the true voice oftoday's Vietnam veteran.
We V'ant to See
Your Favorite
POWMIAFIag
We're not looking for POWMIA f lags that
fly over post offices or the usual government
burldings. We want the real grassroots sup-
porters who fly the ftag proudly over their
own homes or businesses.
It's easy
Next time you're out. stop and ask if it's OK
for you to take a prcture of that flag, and ask
a few questions * enough for you to write up
a simple report for our magazine, Don't just
take a picture of the f lag with only the sky as
background. We're hoping for pictures that
show the flag flying in its natural setting.
And even better, try to get a person in the
I
I
I
Soldie/s Heart, Train Down, and America's Heroes. frequent travelers around the U.S. and the world
Mary Tendall, MA LMFI has worked
for over 20 years with combat veterans
and their families, specializing in
PTSD. She works with groups such as
VietNow photographer, Ken Nelson,
has worked as a typographer and a
graphic designer, and is the brother of
a Vietnam veteran.
Karen St. John has been a veterans'
advocate since 2005, concentrating on
PTSD/healthcare issues. Her oldest
brother is a Vietnam veteran. Visit her
web site at stjohnveterans.w0rdpress.c0m
Pauline [aurent is a certified life
coach, inspirational speaker, author of
Grief Denied, A Vietnan Widow's Story,
and has been instrumental in helping
survivors of traumatic loss come to terms with grief
Michele Dunckel is a writer as well as
an executive assistant at Biogen, Early
Stage Program Leadership" She lives
with her daughter and granddaughter.
After over 20 years in the U.S. Navy,
National VA Chairman. Bob Gutsche
worked as a counselor n the VA system
for many years. He and his w fe are
Joel l(ndrick has an l4 A. in military
historyfrom Norw ch Univers ty, and
has been an instructor of history
government, and language on the
campuses of Pepperdine University. Cal forn a
Lutheran University, and Pacific Union Col ege.
He has done extensive interviewing and research-
ing of veterans of American wars.
After four years with the Army Securiiy
Agency (ASA), James Stanton worked
as a house painter, and later as a
self-taught program mer and systems
analyst. He divides his time between a rustic cabin
on a lake in lllinnesota and Nonglak, Ihailand.
See your name and photo here. Send us a story or
a letter Let us know what you're thinking and what
you've been doing. We're looking for anything that
would be of interest to Vietnam veterans and their
families. Personal essays related to your service,
what you remember about when you came back
home, and more. We're open t0 your ideas. Send to,
Christian I'lelson, VietNow National Editor
editor@vietnowcom
Think for a minute of a P0WIMIA flag that
catches your eye. and pulls at your heart
every time you see it. Who are the people
t on or even a f L,ll-sized article if you re so
inclined - and send it to us. We'll take it
Send to
Christian Nelson
VietNow National Editor
P.0. Box 117
0ronoco, Minnesota 55960
0r e-mail to editor@vietnow.com
rINTER 2015 2

4. history MILITARY WOMEN OF THE VIETNAM WAR
U-IILT 43 Y- YL -O-USU- 9T,T ttE J L E Iry AtL Jg43By Joel Kindrick
Vietnam wore at least lieutenant bars on their
collars, men of lower rank still fell obligated
to play a protector role. These women were
OI( with this, and were happy to play their
traditional comforting role with their pa-
tients.. Nevertheless, men still snapped to
attention, when physically able, to give these
female officers their due respect, and follow
their orders when given.
On the other hand, healthy male soldiers
allowing the women just to be military per-
sonnel, and transforming them beyond ob-
jects of sexual attraction, was a goal not al-
'Women played a vital part on both sides of
the Vietnam'War. On the American side,
women's roles stuck to the more traditional
positions of secretary and nurse. On the Viet-
namese side, women were very active in com-
bat roles. American female nurses saved
American and Vietnamese lives. Vietnamese
female soldiers of the north or the Viet Cong,
for the greater good ofan independent Viet-
nam, /ooklives.
American women atwal
the American female nurses in
ways achieved. Some women found these
men's attention flattering, and others found it
demeaning.-
American women who volunteered for
Vietnam did so for many reasons. Many
did it out of loyalty to their country. They
wanted to be like their fathers or be the
female counterpart of Audie Murphy or John
Wayne. Some just wanted to go for the ad-
venture - to avoid having to settle down and
get married. Others thought it was a way to
test and challenge themselves professionally.
Some were already in the military, and it was
I
!
1
Although
a few rn es south ofthe 17th paral eL. U.S. Navy photo
rTNTF.lt 2015 10

5. history MILITARY WOMEN OF THE VIETNAM WAR
a great way to climb that ladder. Parents,
somewhat accustomed to sending sons offto
war, were much more cautious about sending
their daughters. Although their daughters
were of age and could make their own deci-
sions whether to serve or not, itwas still hard
on the parents.-
Lynda Van Devanter saw her Vietnam ex-
perience as the worst and the best time of
her life. She was stationed at the hospitals
in Pleiku and Qui Nhon. She witnessed death
and destruction like no woman stateside
could - seeing not only soldiers'Iimbs being
torn to pieces, but children's as well.- She
helped save lives, but more often than not, it
seemed that all she could do was give comfort
to those dying.
Agnes Reedywas also a nurse, and longed
for the time when she could get back home
to people who you expected to see die - old
people and terminally ill people. Nothing pre-
pared her for strong, handsome young men
whose blood bubbled out from their chest,
who she tried to save, only to see life fade out
of them.'American women who went to Viet-
nam, same as the men, were forever changed
bywhat they saw and did there.
Vietnamese women atwar
In Vietnam, the country where the war was
actually being fought, women in the north
and the south stood up and fought for their
independence. Although the ingrained per-
ception of a Vietnamese woman was to stick
to her prime responsibility of raising her chil-
dren and caring for her household, she also
took on the responsibility of resistance by
producing food so the soldiers could eat, and
by fighting in the place of the men when they
were either in battle or were already dead..
Not all North Vietnamese women were
Communist-party loyalists, but what they all
had in common was the desire to get foreign
powers removed from their country. They had
been through French colonial rule, fapanese
domination, French power again, and then -
just when they thought they could live free
of foreigners - the Americans came.
Many women could not understand what
the Americans had against their country.
What they did understand was that their
country had been invaded, and they needed
to help protect it." Many women in the south
joined the Viet Cong, and women in the north
became part of the Viet Minh. President Ho
Chi Minh let it be known that women were
half the people, and if women were not free,
then all the people were not free." This gave
women the confidence and freedom to know
that theywere accepted in the cause..
In the south, Nguyen Thi Ut Tich was a
woman who embodied those responsibilities.
She worked as a guerrilla fighter, she trained
new recruits, she provided for soldiers, she
raised children, and when her husband died,
she continued until she was eventually killed,
probably in 1965. Ut Tich's specialties in-
cluded plotting and executing ambushes
where she was always able to score enemy
kills. She also seized an enemy outpost by
befriending the commander, getting him and
his soldiers drunk, disarming them, and tak-
ing them all prisoner. She earned the title of
Heroine of the Liberation Army, and was a
heroine to manyyoung Viet Cong girls who
strove to emulate her.
One group of girls marched on the troops
and the police. A banner-carrying sixteen-
1,ear-old Truong Thi Bay led them. When the
police shot her dead, eighteen-year-old
Nguyen Thi Be took her place until she was
dead. Another girl then stepped in..
Other women, such as Nguyen Thi Dinh
and Ca Le Du, were also great leaders of their
cause. The Ben Tre uprisings in the Mekong
G r vo unteers ofthe PeopesSef Defense Forceof Ken Dren, a hametof Ben Caidstrict.50 ktometers north of
Saigon, patrolthehamiet'spermetertodscourageVietCong nfitraton. Photo: U.S. informatonAgency.
11 rrETNow
I
:.

6. Delta were attributed to women such hs these
who fought the American forces.'Media re-
ports that filtered back to the United States
underscored American perceptions of female
roles when it was reported that women and
children were being killed. Many of those
women and'thildren" were female Viet Cong
fighters who were legitimate war targets'
In the north, the women volunteered to
work on their farms and in industries for
the war effort. They were all trained to use
weapons.'Women formed militias to defend
bridges and roads,
watch the skies, fire
antiaircraft guns, and
fightintruding South
Vietnamese Rangers
near the 17th parallel
border. North Viet-
namese women car-
ried food and ammu-
nition for other
soldiers.
They also parti-
cipated in assault
teams. Women did
skilled jobs such as
replacing male phy-
sicians and other
public-health profes-
sionals. Women also
labored on such tasks
as the construction of
the Ho Chi Minh
Trail."
At age seventeen,
Nguyen Thi I(im Lai
was the head of a
female militia unit in
Huong Khue District.
Photographs show
her aiming a rifle
at, and capturing,
twenty-two-year-old
Captain William
Robinson - a man
three times her size,
who was shot down
during the Christmas
bombing of Hanoi in
t972.
She walked him
from the jungle to the
Hoa Lo Prison, or
history MILITARY WOMEN OF THE VIETNAM WAR
what the Americans called the Hanoi
Hilton.'
Afterthe war
Both Vietnamese women and American
women were happy to resume their lives in
traditional female roles when the war was
over. Vietnamese women went back to their
children and husbands, if theywere still alive.
They worked in their rice paddies, offices,
or factories..
Most of the American female nurses re-
turned to civilian life as well, and some stayed
on in the military. A shock that many of the
nurses found in the workplace when return-
ing from Vietnam was that the authority they
had wielded in Vietnam did not fly in the
States. One nurse stated that she questioned
a doctor's order and got reprimanded for it..
The gender roles of female submissiveness
that had been transformed in Vietnam during
the war had not changed back in the United
States.
ti/omen of the Vietnam-War era were
important on both
sides. Female Ameri-
can nurses brought
health and healing to
injured soldiers. Fe-
male Vietnamese sol-
diers gave their all in
combating the threat
to their country.
Whether they were a
life-healer or a life-
taker, when the war
ended, these women
put down their tem-
porary transforma-
tions given to them by
war, and returned to
their ingrained role
as wife, mother and
comforter. Jr
Works Cited (*)
Norman, Elizabeth.
Women at War: The Story of
Fifty Military Nurses Who
Served in Vietnam. Phtla
delphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
O'Neill, Susan. Don't Mean
Nothing: Short Stories of
Vietnam. Amhersl,MA:
University of Massachu
setts Press,2004.
Segal, Mady Wechsler.
"Women's Military Roles
Cross-Nationally Past,
Present, and Future."
Gender & Socieb19,
no.6 (1995):761.
Taylor, Sandra C.
Vietnamese Women at War:
Fightingfor Ho Chi Minh
and the Revolution.
Lawrence: KS: University
Press of Kansas, 1999.
Van Devanter, Lynda.
Home Before Morning: The
Story of an Army Nurse in
l/lefnam. NewYork:
Beaufort Books, 2001.
l,'
The Vietnam Women's IVlemor aL in Washington, DC., was des gned by Glenna Goodacre, and ded cated n 1993
Th s NorthVetnamese postagestampissued n lg68, shows NorthVetnamesewomen shootngdowna U S let
fINTER2015 12