SAN ANTONIO – When it comes to watching the Vietnam conflict play out on television shows and movies, we rarely see how women served the United States Armed Forces during this time.
It’s something not talked about enough.
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Approximately 10,000 women from the U.S. served in Vietnam in various roles, including the Women’s Army Corps, nurses, military intelligence, war correspondents, photojournalists, administrative roles and more.
Two women veterans who live in the San Antonio area shared stories from their service.
Pat Farrell, a 20-year veteran of the United States Air Force, was a registered nurse stationed at Da Nang Air Base from 1970 to 1971.
“I remember the almost nightly rocket bombardments that were always preceded by warning sirens,” Farrell told KSAT in September. “Needing to roll out of and under my bunk until we got the all clear.”
Farrell, 92, was in charge of 17 other nurses and 102 medical technicians in Vietnam.
“We had a 350-bed Casualty Staging Unit that was usually quite full,” Farrell said. “I was quite disturbed personally by the sheer number of young boys who were missing body parts and were very distressed about how they would manage when home and how their family would react to their injuries.”
Farrell, who is originally from Brooklyn, New York, was named Flight Nurse of the Year in 1975. She also spent time at Wilford Hall Medical Center and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1976.
Near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. is the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, which was dedicated in 1993 to honor the women who served.
Learn more about the memorial here. You can learn more about San Antonio women veterans by visiting Women Veterans of San Antonio.
