Red Cross

   emily
  donut dollie

 Red Cross

when someone asks me what I did in Nam, my usual response is:

"I flew around in helicopters and played games with the guys."

That usually stops the conversation. Occasionally, when I feel like someone really wants to know, I will give them a copy of this poem I wrote:

i flew to desolate fire bases
filled with the tools of war
and the men who used them

it was my job to perform the miracle
of making the war disappear
(however briefly)
for boys who had been trained to kill

it was my mission to raise the morale
of children who had grown old too soon
watching friends die

it was my calling
to take away fear and replace it with hope
to return sanity to a world gone insane

i was the mistress of illusion
as i pulled smiles from the dust and heat
the magical genie of "back-in-the-world"
as i created laughter in the mud

but when the show was over
i crawled back into my bottle
and pulled the cork in tightly behind me

© 1992

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See also, Emily's other spot in cyberspace:
An American Red Cross Donut Dollie with the 9th Infantry Division and Mobile Riverine Force in VIETNAM

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This website belongs to Women Poets of the Vietnam War Webring.
Women Poets of the Vietnam War Webring
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Bullet Women in Vietnam Bullet Many Women Served Bullet Red Cross
Bullet Military Nurses Bullet In Memoriam Bullet Get Back in Touch
Bullet Bibliographies Bullet Locater Service/Remarks Bullet Free Monthly Newsletter
Bullet Videos/Stuff to Buy Bullet Books Bullet Health Stuff
Bullet Photo Tours   Bullet Help for Students

My Vietnam Related Websites:
buttonWomen in Vietnam ~ Not only nurses served . . .
button Dusty's Home Page ~ Poetry and prose by a woman who was a nurse in Vietnam
button Emily's Poetry ~ By a Red Cross Donut Dolly
button Battle Dressing ~ The Journey of a Nurse in Vietnam
button Tim O'Brien's Home Page ~ National Book Award Winner and Americal Vet
button Shrapnel in the Heart ~ The most moving book you will read on Vietnam
button The Irish on the Wall ~ An effort to locate the Irish who died in Vietnam
button Project Hearts and Minds ~ Help put Viet Nam back together
button All About Vietnam   ~ An annotated bibliography of books about Vietnam for sale thru Amazon Worldwide!
button Photos from a Holts' Military History Tour ~ My trip to Vietnam, February 1998
button Illinois Vietnam Women's Memorial ~ Honoring all the Illinois women who served

My Other Websites:
Chicago Theatre Z - A ~ This is the best theater town in the country!
Writers Theatre of Chicago ~ And this is the best theater in town
Literature of the Korean War ~ Don't let the literature be forgotten
Poetry of the First World War ~ Owen, Hardy and others
Samuel Pepys ~ One of my favorite authors
Gil Thorp ~ THE Coach
Maybe Later . . . ~ My Creative Nonfiction
Chi-COW-go ~ Cowz plus Commentary (this used to be a cow town)
Graham Fulton, Scottish Poet ~ Charles Manson Auditions for the Monkees
Soccer Literature ~ I'm a fan and I read
O'Leary Lantern ~ Fire! Fire! Fire!

Other Important Websites:
PreviewPort.com ~ Connecting Authors and Writers Worldwide 
Remember Oklahoma City ~ Civil Service and Military Employees will never forget

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Page last updated September 22, 2003