In April
1967, four nursing sisters left Australia bound for an experience that they
would never forget. By December 1971, a
total of forty-three nursing sisters from the RAANC had served in Vietnam. Their tour of duty was twelve months, and
they worked in an environment unlike anything that most had ever worked
before. Despite the unveiling of the
National Service Nurses Memorial in Anzac Drive, Canberra, much of Australian
society is unaware that Australian women served in Vietnam. These women touched the lives of hundreds of
Australian, New Zealander, American, Korean and Vietnamese soldiers and
officers, as well as the lives of Vietnamese civilians. And yet their work has often gone
unrecognised. The following article is
taken from the work being conducted by Narelle Biedermann, and is not the
opinion of the Department of Defence.
Many of
the nursing sisters that went to Vietnam were considerably inexperienced
nurses, particularly in trauma and intensive care nursing. Most had completed their general nursing
training and midwifery training within three years of being posted to Vietnam,
and few believed that they were prepared for the experience of nursing in a war
zone. Unlike the Australian soldiers, the
nursing sisters were not given any training to prepare them for their twelve
months in Vietnam, and many had no idea of what to expect. For some, their first 'taste' of Vietnam was
getting off the plane to see dozens of body bags being loaded on to a plane
bound for America or Australia. Others
remembered their first nursing experience was shrouded with terror, when a
dust-off chopper arrived and unloaded wounded casualties at their feet. One nurse reported that on her first day in
Vietnam, she was asked to remove the soldier's boot, and when she did, the
entire foot came off with it. Others
had several days in which they could explore their surroundings before they
were needed.
The
nurses worked in all facets of the 8th Field Ambulance (until April 1968)
and the 1st Australian Field Hospital (until December 1971): triage,
intensive care, surgical ward, medical ward, operating theatres, RAP. Some found that they were working in the
surgical or medical ward, which functioned just like it did in a civilian
hospital, except the patients were all young, fit Australian 'boys' who had
become sick or wounded in a war zone.
Others found themselves working in environments for which they had no
experience, training or knowledge. 'You were just expected to get on with
it. That was it', one nurse
reported. Everything that happened in
the war affected the hospital, and ultimately, the nurses. For every battle or operation, injured
soldiers were brought into the hospital that required treatment: the Tet
Offensive, Battle for FSB Coral and Balmoral, Battle of Long Kahn, and the
myriad operations that were conducted in the Phouc Tuy Province. Every time a soldier was wounded, their job
began, and sometimes they didn't stop for thirty-six hours. One nurse remembered: 'the dust-off chopper came in and we got to work on the
casualties. Some time later, someone
asked, "What day is it?" We had been
going non-stop for thirty hours, and we didn't know if it was night or
day. The casualties just kept coming'.
Most will tell you that it
wasn't all hard work in Vietnam. There
were barbecues, parties, visits to Nui Dat, parties, swimming at the beach,
parties – anything to relax and unwind from the sights and smells of the
hospital. They were always consciously
aware that they were the only females among thousands of men; a 'round
eye'. Despite the harsh climate, they
wore their traditional grey dress uniforms, with stockings and starched veil, 'because the boys would feel secure on
seeing us in our uniforms. If they
reached us alive, they knew that they were going to make it home, and we did
everything to ensure that they made it'.
Nursing
in Vietnam was unique in some ways. It
required immense dedication and commitment to care for wounded soldiers who
could be lying on a stretcher in triage within twenty minutes of being
wounded. Clinically, the nurses took
part in practices that would change the management of casualty resuscitation
and wound surgery. Despite the trauma
and horror of nursing in a war zone, the majority found the experience to be
extremely rewarding and the most positive thing they had ever done, as one
nurse indicated: 'I am so glad that I
went. If the phone rang right now to go
overseas, I would be packed and out of the door before I had a chance to say
goodbye to anyone.'
For
further details about RAANC in Vietnam, please contact Narelle Biedermann (narelle.biedermann@jcu.edu.au),
School of Nursing Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville QLD 4811.