Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:24 | Neville Kirby was born in Coronado, California. Her father served in the Army in both the Pacific and Europe, and she also had siblings who served in the military. When she was old enough she went through years of nursing school, then decided that she wanted to join the military herself as a nurse. She went to San Antonio, Texas for her basic training, then to Fort Carson to continue her medical training for the Army.
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Kirby gives the specifics of her basic training, and what her trip over to Vietnam was like once she volunteered. She was sent to Phu Bai, Vietnam the day after Christmas. She talks about the different people she worked with and what her day to day living conditions were like.
While she was over in Vietnam, Kirby's duties as a nurse varied with her location and the unit she was with. She remembers how sirens would go off if the hospital she was working at was at risk, and how everyone was given a certain amount of time to take shelter. She also remembers a memorable patient of hers that lost one of his legs.
As a hospital nurse, Neville Kirby's primary job was to clean wounds and stop the bleeding. She dealt with some cases of malaria, snake bites, and various other health conditions and injuries. She talks about what she did during mortar fire attacks, and how she de-stressed after her long 12 hour days.
As the Vietnam War was coming to a close, Kirby remembers when the Army closed down her hospital. Afterwards she was assigned to the 27th Hospital in Chu Lai, Vietnam. Upon returning home, she did receive harsh public treatment due to the political nature of the war. After some time home in the states, she was stationed in Germany and then in Italy.
During the period of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield, Kirby was stationed yet again. This time, she was working in Portsmouth, Virginia. She talks about how her children are now in the military themselves, and gives her thoughts about the ending of the Vietnam War.
