Chapter Meeting - January 2025
Speaker: Diane Dwan Poole, Capt. USA - Nursing Corp
This was one of the most powerful presentations our Chapter has ever experienced!!
Captain Poole served two tours in Vietnam, 1969-1971, with ever increasing adimistrative responsibilities and hands on coping with the wounded coming in from battle.
This quiet spoken lady took us thru the emotional roller coaster of her experiences including: laying alongside and praying with a dying man, spending an entire night transfusing another so he did not bleed to death before a doctor would attend. As much as 30years later she would receive calls of thanks from men she saved in the field.
She is one of 10000 women who served in Vietnam, but who were refused VA assistance when they returned with PTSD because "no women served in Vietnam".
Those wanting to learn more about her experiences can read Healing Wounds by Diane Callson Evans (responsible for the Vietnam memorial to nurses in DC) and Home Before Morning by Lynda Van Devanter ( probably the basis for the current best seller The Women by Kristin Hannah.