As an Army nurse returning from Vietnam, Ann Thompson remembers coming home to the North East and thinking the sweltering heat of Vietnam made summer here feel cold.
“I came home in September, and if you’ve ever been to Washington D.C. in September, it is hot and humid and awful. I remember wearing a wool skirt and wool knee highs and a wool sweater to the grocery store because I was cold, because your temperature changes.”
Her first day at work proved to be a little chilly, as well.
“I was assigned to Walter Reed, and I went down there and I said ‘Hi my name is Ann, I’m just back from Vietnam.’ and those nurses didn’t care because they were working six days a week, 12 hours a day here on soldiers that were just coming home from Vietnam. So they didn’t want to hear war stories. They didn’t want to hear how bad it was. And I thought why wouldn’t you want to hear that? I’m sorry that you were working hard too, but we worked hard and you know, I never wore a white uniform. I never had running water. I never had you know, all these things that you have at Walter Reed. So don’t complain to me.”