25-03-2025
Decades later, Colorado nurse who served in Vietnam continues helping those in need
BROOMFIELD, Colo. (KDVR) — Pat Hammon shares a common bond with nearly 10,000 women who donned the uniform and served their country in a warzone as nurses in Vietnam.
'It was a very, it was a really tough duty,' Hammon told a crowd of attendees Saturday in Broomfield, where she took the stage as a guest speaker at a symposium marking 60 years since the start of the Vietnam war.
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'I learned more in the first two weeks (in Vietnam) than you can learn in four years of school,' Hammon told FOX31.
Recruited from nursing school, she signed up with the Army Nurse Corps and was assigned to Vietnam, spending a year at the 24th EVAC Hospital in Long Binh, just outside Saigon, helping treat some of the most severely injured in battle.
'We had horrendous mortar type, multiple injuries. So when these guys went to the OR (operating room), they'd have four surgeons working on them at the same time,' she said.
Hammon was in Vietnam for exactly 365 and a half days before returning home from war where she was met by war protesters at the San Francisco airport.
'Yeah, I got spit on in the airport and called names. Went in the ladies' room, took my uniform off and that was the end of that,' Hammon said.
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She moved to the Colorado mountains a few years ago where she works as Eagle County Veterans Service Officer, helping those who proudly wore the uniform, just as she did a half-century ago.
Hammon is one of thousands of women who served in Vietnam but have never been given their due. That's why she's being honored as the FOX31 Serving Those Who Serve Hero of the Month. The program is sponsored by American Furniture Warehouse, Plumbline Services and the Leo Hill Charitable Trust.
To nominate a veteran or active-duty service member for Hero of the Month, visit the nomination page.
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