Wounds Unwound

[SEATJERKER]

...Although our hearts are at their heavest with the passing of another brother, I would like to think that Frank would want us all to keep passing on the "TORCH" of knowledge...

...The knowledge that so many Americans have fought, died, or were injured in the name of freedom, then, and now...

......I will post this up as perpetual reminder that "wounds unwound " for some, and I want the world to know that some do not,...

...If it were not for "Vietnam Veterans" this world would a far worse place then it is now,...

..."WELCOME HOME FRANK"...

By: Robert Cristo , The Record 08/11/2003


COHOES - For Vietnam veteran Helen Vartigian, memories of serving as a nurse in a nightmarish war may often be too painful to bear, but she takes solace in knowing she was there to hold the hands of dying soldiers who never made it back to their families.


"As bad as it was, I still would have gone because I went to help people," said Vartigian, who will be a keynote speaker when the traveling Vietnam Wall That Heals makes its way to Cohoes in September.
The 62-year-old retired Army major was one of an estimated 7,500 women who served in Vietnam as nurses, air traffic controllers and aerial photographers, as well as intelligence and language specialists.
While some of her friends were either joining the Peace-Corps or getting involved in the civil rights movement down South in the 1960s, Vartigian decided to take a different route by going off to basic training to become an Army nurse.
"We were part of the Kennedy era. ... We were young and idealistic," said Vartigian, who was 25 when she arrived in Vietnam.
A short time after training, Vartigian found herself helping
set up an evacuation hospital in Vietnam that was within earshot of constant fighting between the 25th Infantry Division and North Vietnamese soldiers.
The base began taking casualties on Christmas Day in 1966, but Vartigian says those first few weeks gave little indication of the horribly injured soldiers that would soon come her way.
By early January, fighting intensified right outside the hospital's perimeter, and that's when "we started getting about 200 casualities a day."
While tending to wounds of badly injured patients in poorly lit, makeshift wards, doctors and nurses would sometimes have to work through the sounds of nearby explosions shaking the ground on which they were standing.
"It was all shocking initially. ... To see such horrible injuries was hard to take," she said. "You never really got used to how scary it was, but you learned to deal with it or else you would become a basket case."
Looking back, Vartigian says she managed to block out remembering many of the brutal injuries she dealt with, but to this day, one badly wounded soldier remains crystal clear in her mind.
That patient was Vartigian's first casualty - and her introduction to the realities of war.
He was rushed into the emergency ward after stepping on a mine, and had lost all body parts below his waste. The soldier died while Vartigian and doctors rushed to replace the blood he was rapidly losing.
"It was the first, so I guess it stays in my mind. ... I remember feeling a little helpless," she said. "But a lot of the other things after that I've blocked out and I've heard others say they can't recall a lot of the bad things, either."
Despite the misery of war, the year she spent with a group of nurses, dubbed "The Nasty Nine," did have some lighter moments.
There were visits from comedians like Bob Hope, dances organized by a Catholic priest who led the ladies to a party filled with cheering male officers and afternoon tanning sessions that passing American helicopter pilots greatly appreciated.
"We had some good times dancing to '60s music, watching movies and a lot of crazy things," she said while looking at a cheerful photo taken of The Nasty Nine in 1966 on Christmas Day.
Upon returning from the war, Vartigian remained in the Army until the 1980s, when she left to take a job with the state Health Department.
She says it's taken her a long time to come to terms with her war experiences.
It wasn't until 1993 that Vartigian decided it was time to come to grips with the pain by visiting Washington for a special dedication honoring the women who served in Vietnam.
During the trip, Vartigian got the opportunity to visit with the women she shared a bamboo bunker with in Vietnam.
"It felt good to get back together. There are a lot personal things we got to reflect on that we wouldn't share with the public," she said.
Records show that nine service women lost their lives from incidents such as helicopter or plane crashes, by getting hit with shrapnel or combat-related illnesses.
There were also an unknown number of dedicated, non-military American women who died serving the troops as members of the Red Cross.
It's a courageous sacrifice of which Vartigian intends to remind the public when she stands in front of the Wall That heals on Sept. 19 in Lansing Park.
Since the early 1980s, the traveling wall has offered the opportunity for the souls enshrined on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., to journey back to the places they called home.
Though it may be half the size of its stationary counterpart, many believe the replica is no less powerful in honoring those lost and in helping veterans find healing.
During a special ceremony, Vartigian will discuss her experience in the war and will also recite a poem about an unnamed Army nurse who stayed with and comforted an injured soldier until he passed away.

..."She served too",...

...I think that our words need to forever carry the message, and Frank would want to recognize those that cared for so many,...

...Thank you, and "Welcome home to all",...

...

[BLUEHAWK]

Hi -
Do you know, is there anywhere a kind of listing of the women, civilian and otherwise, who served in VN? Or, the ones we lost there?