Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
2:53 | The casualties could be overwhelming at the surgical hospital in Tay Ninh. Army nurse Carolyn Pike recalls an incident in which the Viet Cong tunneled to an American outpost on a mountain top and nearly wiped out the unit. She also treated the enemy and the local civilians.
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Her father was a World War II veteran but he cautioned Carolyn Pike, if you want to join the service, that's fine, just don't join the WAC's. So she became an Army nurse, determined to do her part and take care of the soldiers.
Army nurse Carolyn Pike arrived in Vietnam and was assigned to a mobile surgical hospital in Tay Ninh. It shared a base with an assault helicopter company and an infantry outfit known as the Manchus. On her first night there, she had a fateful meeting in the officers club.
She heard helicopters every day and, some nights, the ground would shake from B-52 strikes. The sound of aircraft still gets a reaction from Carolyn Pike today, though not the one you might think. When she first arrived, she had crudely cut her hair short. A visiting MP took a look at it and asked a probing question.
It was a rocket attack. A mad scramble began in the surgical hospital ward where nurse Carolyn Pike was working. The inflatable building began to collapse and shrapnel came flying in. Everyone hurried for the bunkers.
There were protestors waiting when she came home from Vietnam but Army nurse Carolyn Pike just ignored them. What was hard to ignore was the portrayal of nurses in the movie MASH.
