According to the Defense Department records, there were about 193,000 women who served in the armed forces during the Vietnam war era and 7,465 of these were stationed in Vietnam.  By far the largest number, 4,500, were members of the Army Medical Corps (2). Those Vietnam Women Veterans served as nurses, occupational and physical therapists, dieticians, Red Cross workers, and "Doughnut Dolly" volunteers. (3)

Some women veterans, such as SHARON BALSLEY and KATHY GRUMBECK, joined the Army for their nursing education.  SHARON BALSLEY, 36, volunteered to go to Vietnam "to play FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, to be an angel in white."  CATHY GRUMBECK, 34, always knew that if she joined the Army she would want to go to Vietnam, and in 1969 she did. (4)  Others, like LYNDA VAN DEVANTER who became the Director of the Women’s Project of the Vietnam Veterans of America, went to the war because they felt a sense of patriotism and the call to public service that grew out of the Kennedy years and programs such as The Peace Corps.  Ms. Van Devanter heard about Americans dying in Southeast Asia, and she wanted to help. (5)  She said in an interview "I grew up during the years when there was an attitude of ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’. I felt I had a responsibility to my family, my country, and the world in general." (6)