Minnesota's Women Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project: Interview with Lynn L. Bower

Titles: Minnesota's Women Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project: Interview with Lynn L. Bower (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Lynn L. Bower was born in Minnesota. While in nursing school at the University of Minnesota, she applied and was accepted into the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing (WRAIN) in Washington, D.C. She enlisted in the Army and eventually went to Vietnam. After her return she worked at St. Mary's Hospital and was in the Army Reserves. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Family and childhood; values; her mother's home nursing program and encountering various illnesses and diseases; education and struggling with dyslexia; being cognizant of the politics of the war; patriotism; nursing school; transferring to the WRAIN program; expectations about female career options; differential treatment due to gender; joining the Army to help finance education; family reaction to enlistment; reaction to the political chaos and assassinations in the 1960s; feeling homesick; working on the surgical ward; dating; time at Fort Bragg; getting orders to go to Vietnam; being mistreated because of anti-war sentiment; working in the operating room in Vietnam; horrific injuries, mass casualties, and emotional trauma; feeling like a surrogate mother, sister, wife, or girlfriend to patients; witnessing incidents of harassment; leaving Vietnam after six weeks due to pregnancy; guilt over leaving Vietnam; coming back to the United States; getting married; birth of her son; post-traumatic stress disorder; moving to Minnesota and working at St. Mary's Hospital; meeting other female Vietnam veterans; the memorial projects in Minnesota and Washington, D.C.; working in the Reserves; what it means to be an American citizen; lessons learned since Vietnam; thoughts on the Iraq war; and what it means to be a female veteran.

Dates

• 06/20/2006 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewer: Heikkila, Kim
• interviewee: Bower, Lynn L.

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 113
• Accession Number: AV2007.38.3

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota's Women Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project' <OH 113>

Quantity: 4 hours sound cassette 58 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 195 minutes length

Subjects

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