I probably hate war more than any of these so-called anti-war activists. Had she observed any differences between the response of the servicemen through the three wars? When asked about the MASH movie and TV series, she reflected that it was accurate from the standpoint of the choppers, the triage, the tents and such physical aspects, but 'it was a satire.'

She cited the importance of studies done during and after the war on such aspects as statistics of patient load, change in medical practice, and trauma treatment.

'We developed the MASH units where we set up a hospital with 60 beds and we would have patients on the operating room table for trauma treatment within less than 6 minutes.' In the Korean War the use of helicopters provided early evacuation. We found out we had less pneumonia, less blood clots, less pulmonary emboli, all the rest of it because of the treatment and knowledge gained in W.W.II.' 'Early ambulation is a straight result from W.W.II. So you did nursing care because you didn't have all these other things.' I nursed before penicillin even came along. because of the knowledge that was given to the medical people. 'Every war we've ever had, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, has made a major impact in your treatment in the United States. The men's temperatures would reach 108 degrees and the nurses would spend all day giving alcohol sponges to reduce temperatures.īy the Korean and Vietnam wars, sick and wounded benefited from 'hi-tech' treatments. A major challenge was 'scrub typhus' and there were no treatments but nursing care. During W.W.II she spent about three years in tents with 'evacuation hospitals' in Australia, New Guinea, the Netherlands East Indies and the Philippines. In her interview she reflected on changes in medical treatment. During the Vietnam War, she was the 'chief nurse' in Vietnam, the USARV chief nurse, and the 44th Medical Brigade nurse for a year. She returned to the states in 1953 and earned a master's degree in Hospital Administration. She received orders to report when the Korean war broke out and served for two and a half years, mostly in Japan. She supported her mother and herself and joined the organized reserve. She returned to the city in 1945 and used her GI bill to study for degrees in Home Economics and Occupational Therapy. Miss Williams was a registered nurse from Fort Collins in 1942 and was soon recruited to serve the military.

Nurses in a mash unit