We have been learning about Ann (Benson) Rudolph, who graduated from St. Olaf College’s nursing program in 1964. She began her Army service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and married in July 1965 before receiving Vietnam deployment orders with the 93rd Evacuation Hospital (93rd Evac). The unit arrived in Vietnam that October where Ann worked with patients on surgical and medical wards.

Ann completed her Vietnam tour in July 1966 and rejoined her husband, Rudy, who was in a seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She returned in time for their first anniversary.

“I was coming back to Rudy, which was my goal since Day 1. I think I was like everybody (leaving Vietnam). You wanted to assimilate quickly. Rudy had completed one year of seminary. I continued working in nursing until Lisa Ann was born in December of ’68. The third year (of seminary) Rudy interned in Reno. He came back for senior year and graduated in June of ’69 to serve a parish in Illinois until Lisa was four.”

Brent Lawrence joined the family in July 1970, while Rudy was at that Illinois parish.

Ann explained how she and Rudy navigated her role as “pastor’s spouse.”

“He put me in my place as we graduated, saying, ‘They’re not hiring you. The senior pastor is a deaconess and her husband is working. I don’t want you to be head of the Altar Guild or other groups. Be in the choir. I’ll do the leading.’ I said, ‘Fine with me.’ When we moved to the second parish and he was the only minister, he reinforced that, saying, ‘Don’t feel like you have to lead things.’ I don’t think he was being bossy. I had enough on my plate with two little kids.”

But Ann’s Vietnam service had left an invisible mark she could not identify or explain, yet she felt it nevertheless.

“I didn’t come back the same. How can you? I feel sorry for Rudy. I had no idea I had PTSD. I went to many counselors, including trying marital counseling, which was kind of a joke, because he chose the counselor. At the time nobody talked about PTSD. It wasn’t part of the vocabulary.”

These unidentified pressures and others within the marriage proved too much for Ann and Rudy.

“We got divorced in 1978. But during my time back I had been to five counselors. None of them mentioned PTSD. I don’t think I knew the word until I came to Minnesota. A person at the County Veteran’s office, suggested, ‘You should check on a group at the Veterans’ Administration.’ So, I met with a counselor at the VA.”

That meeting began Ann’s healing path.

“She was leading a group and (invited me to join). I had to be voted in. (Ann chuckled) They didn’t just take people off the street. When I talk about my support group, that’s who I’m referring to. We met at the VA in the ’80’s and did a 4-week course in the early ’90’s. I told my head nurse I’d be off a month. It was the best thing I ever did. I found out about PTSD. That was an ‘Aha!’ moment. One of the gals asked me, ‘Well, Ann, what are you going to do with your rage?’ I said, ‘I have to hope this will help me.’ It did, but until then I had no idea.”

Meeting with other Vietnam nurses and working to understand their service impacts created new friendships. It also gave Ann insights into other Vietnam nurses’ experiences, some of which were different than her own.

“There were people in my support group who went all by themselves! Another thing to my benefit about going at that time (1965-66), was that we did 8-hour shifts. That soon changed to 12-hour shifts.”

Her group even reunited her with a colleague from the 93rd Evac.

Donna Korff, from Fergus Falls, was in my support group. I walked in and she asked, “Where did you serve?” I said, ‘I served at the 93rd Evac in Bien Hoa.’ She replied, ‘No, you didn’t!’ I said, ‘Yeah, I did! How am I going to forget that?’ She said, ‘Well, I was in there, too.’ We didn’t recognize each other, even though we had bunked across from each other.”

Ann reflected on whether she was prepared for her service with the 93rd Evac.

“I think that you never can be. In my own case, I was kind of prepared, but not some of my support group friends. One was trained in Obstetrics. On her first or second day she had to cut off a guy’s leg. I never had any of the awful stuff I’ve read and heard about. But, in hearing their stories, no, they weren’t prepared.”

Ann continued her nursing career until retirement, working in practices including public health nursing, private duty nursing, and working at the University of Minnesota Hospital.

Kristin Hannah’s historical novel, “The Women,” about Army nurses in Vietnam recently brought more public awareness to Ann and her sister Vietnam nurses.

“I had a good friend who read the book and called me to ask, ‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this?’ I replied, ‘You never asked.’ They didn’t ask. It wasn’t pleasant. Why would I talk about something like that without prompting? Our church secretary recently told me, ‘I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately because I just read this book.’ She later showed me her POW bracelet that she still has.”

Thank you for your Vietnam service, Ann. Welcome home!

©2025 William D. Palmer.