We have been learning about Ann (Benson) Rudolph, who graduated from St. Olaf College’s nursing program in 1964 and began a two-year Army service obligation with her Officer Basic Course and working at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She married in July 1965 before receiving Vietnam deployment orders with the 93rd Evacuation Hospital (93rd Evac). The unit arrived by ship on Oct. 31, 1965. Ann began working with post-operation patients in a surgical ward and later as assistant head nurse of a medical ward.

Ann enjoyed her work relations with the physicians and enlisted orderlies.

“The doctors had rounds and they were on-call if you had a problem. We had orderlies and another nurse to each quad. The orderly did stuff like bathe patients, depending on the independence of the patient. The medical patients usually would be more mobile than the surgical.”

She enjoyed the teamwork between the nurses and their enlisted orderlies and her ability to consult with other nurses.”

“We’d interact with the enlisted guys if they were orderlies on our ward. So, I got to know a couple of them well. Once you establish that work ethic with them, it was good to see them and say, ‘Oh, good! You’re working today.’ When I was on nights, I probably had 36 beds, but I don’t remember every bed being filled, other than one time (patients came from another hospital on short notice) when we had to convert single beds to bunks. I wasn’t scared of what I had to do and there was always someone else you could talk to about it. You always had at least one other nurse.”

Ann’s key support network were her St. Olaf friends, Ann Marie and Ruth, and another nurse she knew from Nurse Office Basic Course, Barb, who all bunked in the same area.

“I had two of my college class people with me. They had my back like an old friend. We were really tight. The 4th person in our quad, Barb, (Ann chuckled) I remember well. She was the one who went AWOL (from Nurse Officer Basic Course.) An amazing girl, but she didn’t care if she broke rules. She would go into town. How she got there, I don’t know. I don’t know if (hospital leadership) ever caught her, but what were they going to do, send her back to the States? Barb, Ann Marie, Ruth, and I were all together. I have a picture of us in our section of the Quonset hut. I had my support system.”

Ann had support during her tour, but she recalled losing a corpsman to malaria; a reminder that the staff team at the 93rd Evac were not invulnerable.

“We ended up taking those (anti-malarial) pills and we had shots. (Ann laughed) You looked at the needles and we’re nurses, but the needles looked like this (her fingers 2 or 3 inches apart). They were given in the rump.”

Everyone worked in Vietnam’s heat and humidity, but that posed bigger challenges to some sections of the 93rd Evac.

“There was our motor pool. I remember them coming down (Ann chuckled) and saying, ‘It was 136 degrees there today.’ We nurses had full fatigues, wool socks, and boots. But you’d be surprised how cool your feet can be and how supportive those boots are when you are walking around in them on cement. We just did it!”

Ann explained that over time the 93rd Evac expanded the services they could offer the staff.

“I’m glad they had a chapel and Sunday services. That was nice. There was a PX and the mess hall was in another one of those four-plexes. Of course, the officers sat in one section and the enlisted in another. I guess it was okay, but I remember we got snacks from home and there were snacks at the PX. We just inhaled the stuff from home and shared it with our friends. We had movies on base where they’d put up a sheet or something like that outside.”

Ann was able to get away from the 93rd Evac during her tour.

“We got R&R and I went with one of these gals (pointing to a photograph). We went to Hong Kong. I have no idea how we got there. I assume we got on a truck (to Saigon) and then on a plane. We stayed in a hotel with nice linens. Ann Marie and I also took a weekend and went into Saigon. They had a lovely zoo. We stayed in a ritzy hotel; ate original French onion soup; and woke up in the morning with these (lizards) all over the ceiling. We thought, ‘Oh yeah, this is ritzy.’ (Ann laughed)”

Ann recalled another type of off-hours diversion that taught her a lesson.

“I’m embarrassed to tell this, but I have never gotten really drunk in my life except for one night. The Docs got a parachute and put it up outside their quarters. We were sitting at tables under it and had punch. If anybody got up to get punch they’d get me another and then another. I have no idea how many I drank. I had to go to the bathroom and then I went to my hootch and laid down in my clothes on my bunk. I have no idea how long I slept. But I decided, ‘I ain’t going back to that party!’ (Ann laughed)

One day followed another as Ann worked toward the end of her 1-year tour of duty.

©2025 William D. Palmer.