Viet Posts Sought By Nurses

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31530, 18 November 1967, Page 3

Viet Posts Sought By Nurses

South Vietnam is a posting much sought after by Australian Army nurses. Their director, Colonel E. N. Doig, sees their keenness to serve as the natural desire of an army nurse to bring her skills to the battlefront.

Although the four nurses stationed with the eight Austeralian Field Ambulance at Vung Tau are not quite following the troops into battle thev are certainly near the action. When their year’s tour of duty is over. Colonel Doig does not anticipate any difficulty in choosing replacements.

“Everyone wants to go,” said Colonel Doig, in Christchurch yesterday morning. “They feel that while the men are overseas they should be, too, because that’s where they can best serve the army.”

New Zealand has one military nurse, Sister Margaret Torry, of Tauranga. a nursing officer of the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, serving with the Australians in Vung Tau. What of the dangers inherent in serving in a war where the battle lines are changing and surprise attacks on military installations are part of enemy tactics’ No Strain “When I visited them a few weeks ago I thought they would naturally be working under a strain. But they assured me they don’t feel this and are happy and contented,” she said.

Their parents, the nurses told Colonel Doig, did not appear to be worried for their safety. Apparently the army nurses do not experience the same difficulties as those encountered by civilian teams. The four-ward hospital at Vung Tau is now housed in per-

manent quarters and the nurses live in comfort in huts. To Colonel Doig, who served under canvas for most of the Second World War, their working and living conditions seemed “very good.” The hospital is part of the Australian military complex. During her visit, Colonel Doig was not aware of any apparent stringent security precautions and did not feel particularly close to the fighting. There also seemed to be little difficulty in getting supplies. “However, the action moves all the time in this area and there is the possibility of attack in these conditions,” she said. There were a few battle casualties in the hospital while she was there and one

suspected Viet Cong injured during Australian operations. “But the nurses have the usual cases which occur at camps at home—general sickness and occasional accidents.”

A nearby United States military hospital gives assistance when necessary, but the hospital is very adequately fitted and staffed to cope with casualties, she said. Civilian casualties are taken to the medical team working in a nearby village. While in New Zealand Colonel Doig has been discussing training and conditions of military nurses here with the director of New Zealand Military Nursing Services, Principal-Matron M. W. Wilson.