photo #8907211

Nurse Abby Auclair served at the 85th Evacuation Hospital in Phu Bai at the height of the Vietnam War. Born into a military family—her dad was an Army "lifer," and she was even born at Ft. Jackson Hospital in South Carolina—Abby received an Army student nurse scholarship and graduated before heading to Vietnam. Abby's plane was fired upon during landing, the hospital was dilapidated and infested with rats, snakes, and insects, and it was next to a munitions dump that got shelled regularly. "I had no idea what I was stepping into," she said. Abby cared for critically wounded soldiers, sometimes shielding patients under beds or with mattresses during attacks. She remembers holding the hand of a dying young lieutenant who asked about the World Series just before passing away. In January 1972, the 85th closed, and she transferred to the 95th Evac Hospital in Da Nang before returning home later that year. God Bless Abby and all the heroic nurses of Vietnam🙏🏼❤️🇺🇲