European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 27, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Maelstrom remembered nurse recounts the Way it was in Vietnam by Dontate staff writer be Brave lilo Johnny Don l cry. You re i Good hands. He could l know in. But Hal school Nurs dabbing his bruised knee with the alcohol Patch who Speaks so softly and patiently once treated bigger johnnies marked with bruises so deep and bad so Lull of screams and sobs no Patch could begin to cover them. Maurine Daw Daugh Terol a minister was 22 when she a vent Oil to Vietnam in 19g6. Wanting to he a. Waniingtodosomegood.". Ii was l Long Cloro she was in Tho Middle of a maelstrom Theio doing Good was l Hall Good enough. Whore the miracles she prayed iqra did t always arrive in Lime. She would to in emergency Tooms close to the Jungle and it would be quiet real quiet somebody mopping the Ito or somebody talking about Home and then Allol a sudden you would hear All this slavic. And that radio stars going Leal loud and those voices from the first chopper talking last getting shot at As they talk. We re coming in coming Ini we be get a Mullite head wound a sucking Chest wound probable two la " and then voices culling in irom the second chopper. Swamped with wounded blood slinging All Over the chopper wobbling and punched up with enemy lire to there in five minutes people. We Hope. And the adrenaline Rush in that emergency station in Vietnam would lire Oft Maurine Daw like a Little rocket. Everyone awake now. Bleary eyed doctors who maybe. Just slumped out of surgery alter 24 hours straight rolling out of their sacks running dressing As they run. Then hew come the Lisl one thud thud frujo1 blowing Oul of the dark red lights blinking rotors changing engines sputtering dirt Hying in stinging gusts As the medevac touched Down outside. A blur of hunched Over i Guras Rushing out of the Little Dusl cyclones carrying i i lers. And you could still smell the Battle in their clothes she remembers they d come in fresh still smoking. To would have these big scissors cutting off their clothes and we had to get Largo bore Needles Inlo their veins had to got in the fluids had to get in the they had a frontal wound we could see it but if in was a penetrating wound in the pack Hoy could die before to found it right there on the litter before to. Knew it. And so we re culling everything off. And there would be just a mass of Lorn clothes All around and medics hauling in the guns and equipment and piling in. In a Corner. It got crazy. Once a wounded Man raised up and grabbed a gun and wanted to shoot everybody. He was in Shell Shock or something thought he was still Oul Here fighting and we had to pull it away from there were those times when so Many came hooding in at once it looked like a slaughterhouse. Somebody would be identifying them As dead or near dead they would be taken to a Ray and if it. Showed Iho wounds were so severe nothing could be done you put them behind a curtain screened them off until they would were also the other ones. Everything about. Them looked Fine. Until you raised the sheet.". And the ones who she could t figure out Why they. Died. There was a kind of malaria that could to pieces in a Lew Days gel their lever so High they thought their brains woe cooking. And other levers they did seem to have discovered names for. To remember this one Young Guy. He was about 19,. And the doctors did t know what was wrong with him. He was t wounded. He d been there about six Days and we re taking All these tests and he d Grin and say. What a Gonna do to me now on Day the doctor was there and said. Well Seel you in a Lillie m going and get a cup of Coffee i came Over and had my hand on the kid s bad where his. Pillow was. And i m just talking to him. He s sitting up. Talking and then he goes so quiet and i think he s just closed his eyes for a second. But he s stopped Maurine Daw As War Nurte in Vietnam left and today As school nurse in Darmstadt wast Germany breathing. Just like that. I lower his bed and Start car and Call for help and we re All working on him and we work on him Tor hour. And i m saying. Of please please come Back. You can t be dead but he is. He s gone. So fas and i never knew Why. And i still can t let go of his Faco. Because he s hers talking no Way he s going to die and then he just stops and we be lost him. I Leel i lost him.". Rationally she knows she did t Tose him personally. Emotionally watching the Light go out of a Soldier s eyes so Many Young eyes is not the lightest Load for a Young woman trying to do Good to carry around in the world. I would look Al one so alive looking not a Mark on him. Like a was just lying there resting. He could t possibly be dead Only he is and that s when you gel this thing Thal goes Why is All this happening All this waste. Daw now a major in the Reserve did two Tours in Vietnam. She says she had this special feeling about staying with the dying being their surrogate Molher j could t stand to see a Young Man All alone like that. I would go in there and slay with him. I Don l think i could have looked a Mother Eye and said i just Lei your son die atone. It s funny there was this 1 is Cav fellow who had been wounded in the shoulder. I mod of fell Tor him when he went Back to duty irom then of my heart was ready to Slop every Lime a chopper came in. I would run Over and look on the Stretcher. Please lord Don t let him it be him and then i thought this is getting really hard on me waiting for this Ona Man not to be dead it made me feel guilty. And then i thought i had belter Pray Lor them All. A kid would be dying and i thought they need. Their mothers now. Strange i did t think of wives thought of their mothers because they were so Young 19 or 20. Iwo id sit beside a Soldier and think it i can t help you medically i la at least do this last thing for you " during her Tours she worked in hospitals from one end of the country to the other in All Kiriss of wards Al the 95th evacuation Hospital in Danang she was Tho head nurse in wild Ward 7, bettor known As the a. We got everything we had fresh cardiac lying next to heroin addicts. We had hepatitis All kinds of. Fevers babies being born Jungle rot All the drug. Addicts. Koreans filipinos Vic namese girl friends of the. Officers psychos frag wounds Black plague. Even some germans Oft a red Cross ship that s Why i m in. Germany today people 1 met in Ward 7.". For action above the Call of Nursely duly in lha dumping ground she won a Bronze Star service. In one place she even got a plaque from her patients. Addressed with affection to the girl who never blew her what does a War nurse do when the exhaustion begins to set in faint throw up her hands and walk out. No you could l say to those men coming to you in bloody pieces of you re ruining my Day so 1 put it All on fhe Back Burner in my mind a lot of us did. And very few have talked about in. It s still in there burning for some of them. I guess nurses Don t expect much recognition.". She did t expect whal she got when she got Back irom her first tour either. Trying to rent a House near it. Ord calif., i could t find a place to live because of my skin color. I would Call them up make an appointment and then when they would see to coming something would happen in their eyes they would t even let to in the House. Of. Sorry. Somebody just called it s taken coming Home. I did t expect a marching band but that hits hard. That hits a. Little hard " she went Back to Vietnam and handled everything they threw Al in one bad stretch they threw 98 a aliens Al her the Only nurse on the Ward. Vietnam overload. There were All kinds of ways to go crazy. And it was said in you did t feel a Little crazy at times you had t really reached Vietnam. She remembers once when "1 did t think t could Lake in another Day and i went Over to see our psychiatrist. And he Lold me Well you be come to the wrong Esso of dido Dow still wanting to help wanting to do Tome Page 14the stars and stripes tuesday de
