Minnesota's Women Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project: Interview with Mary Breed

Titles: Minnesota's Women Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project: Interview with Mary Breed (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Mary Breed was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She enlisted in the Army Student Nurse Corps during her senior year of nursing school and was sent to Vietnam. She worked in both the Da Nang evacuation hospital and the Quang Tri surgical hospital. After her return she spent time nursing at the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital and Hennepin County Medical Center. Breed was also involved in a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) group and the Vietnam Women's Memorial. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Being born in Swedish Hospital; joining the military; growing up poor; the role of religion in her family; the civil rights movements and the Cold War; her brother going to Vietnam; the limited women's professions; attending Bible School in California; the culture of Los Angeles; attending nursing school; exposure to the Anti-War Movement; going through training; getting sent to a neurosurgery headquarters in Vietnam; working in the Da Nang evacuation hospital; bitterness towards the government; her relationship with other nurses; seeing Bob Hope; working at a Vietnamese orphanage; interactions with the Vietnamese; the treatment of women in the military; being transferred to the Quang Tri surgical hospital; returning home due to her father's death; leaving the Army; finding a job at the Veteran's Administration Hospital; nursing in Bangladesh; working in Medical Intensive Care at the Hennepin County Medical Center; participation in a PTSD group; working on the Vietnam Women's Memorial and the physical appearance of the monument.

Dates

• 09/23/2006 - 09/25/2006 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewer: Heikkila, Kim
• interviewee: Breed, Mary Elizabeth Kendall

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 113
• Accession Number: AV2007.38.4

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 74 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 230 minutes length

Subjects

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