MF144 Women in the Military
Document Type
Oral History
Interviewer
Sarah Kneeland
Interview date
2-16-2005
Interview location
Corea, Maine
Time
00:40:48
Files
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Abstract
Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, February 16 and 23, 2005, Corea, Maine. Parks talks her experiences in the Vietnam War and how she dealt with it afterwards: reasons for becoming a nurse; training at D.C. General Hospital; volunteering as an officer in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC); Viet Cong tunnels underlying the base camp at Cu Chi; attacks against their camp; operating rooms in the MASH and evacuation hospitals; it was the peak of her career; army vs. civilian nursing; attending the reunion; Annie Cunningham, Glenna Goodacre and Diane Carlson Evans; her film “A Chunk of My Soul”; coping with memories; leaving nursing; the Iraq War and public opinion; James Davis Nelson’s oil painting of the 12th EVAC Hospital operating room. Also included: summary and index of interviews 1 and 2; articles: “A Chunk of My Soul” and “A Vietnam Nurse’s Thanksgiving,” 12th Evac, Cu Chi, RVN; 5 photos. Text: 29 pp. transcript, index, summary, and index, two articles. Time: 00:55:07. Photographs: p14552-p14557. Restrictions: None.
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Part 1: mfc_na3328_cd0950_01
Part 2: mfc_na3328_cd0950_02
Disciplines
Military History | Oral History | United States History | Women's History
Birth date
December 27, 1941
Location
Glen Falls, Warren County, New York
Nation of origin
United States
Home state/Territory
Maine
Gender
Female
Ethnicity
European-American
Occupation
Registered nurse; Wildlife biologist; Educator; Photographer
Branch of service
U.S. Army
Service Unit
Women's Army Corps.; 7th Surgical Hospital (MASH); 12th Evacuation Hospital
Dates of service
August 1966-December 1969, Vietnam, October 1966-October 1967
Date of entry
August 1966
Service entry
Commissioned
Location of Service
Cu Chi, Vietnam
Wars & Conflicts
Vietnam War
Entry Rank
O-1 2nd Lieutenant
Highest Rank
O-3 Captain
Exit Rank
O-3 Captain
Names
General Wyatt; Bob Hope; Glenny Goodacre; Diane Carlson Evans; Annie Cunningham; Ken Hickman; Dan Rather; James Davis Nelson; Sharon Nelson; Charlie Campbell; Richard Harder
Locations
Washington, D.C.; New York; Saigon, Vietnam; Cambodia; University of Virginia; Texas; Hawaii; Texas Tech University; Saratoga Springs, New York; Albany, New York; San Antonio, Texas; Washington State; Panama; Thailand; Germany; Florida; San Francisco; Oakland, California; Switzerland; Spain; Denmark; Norway; Austria; Greece; Africa
Headings
Women in the Military; Viet Cong (VC); Guerrilla Warfare; Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals
Collection name
Women in the Military
Collection number
MF144
Item number
NA3328
Recommended Citation
Clayfield-Parks, Mary Beth, "Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, Part 1" (2023). MF144 Women in the Military. 78.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mf144/78
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