Kristin Hannah's latest novel shines spotlight on Vietnam War nurses -- including Nebraskans
Original link:
https://omaha.com/news/state-regional/kristin-hannah-s-latest-novel-shines-spotlight-on-vietnam-war-nurses-including-nebraskans/article_b24398dc-9afe-11ef-aac8-c7a9c9aac006.html
Steve Liewer 58 mins ago
First Lt. Angie Naimans Vietnam War tour got off to a rough start the moment her military transport plane touched at Bien Hoa Air Base, on a runway pockmarked with craters from mortar shells.
The 26-year-old Army nurse from Hebron, Nebraska, had never felt anything like the blast of heat that hit her as she stepped off the plane that night in July 1970.
The rank, wet air smelled of smoke and jet fuel, the humidity quickly soaking the Class A dress uniform, including heels, that Naiman was required by the Army to wear. Military police hustled her onto a bus with blackened windows that took her to a trailer where she would stay, alone. She could hear shelling in the distance.
It reminded me of The Star-Spangled Banner, said Naiman, now 81 and living with her sister in Papillion. I crawled in my duffel bag with my fatigues on. I was scared.
FULL story:
http://archive.today/LwY8g
Angie Naiman, 81, was an Army nurse at the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, South Vietnam, from 1970-71, during the Vietnam War. Today she lives in Papillion with her sister.
CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD