As the men and women who fought and died in service of their country are remembered on Memorial Day, several veterans and civilians who served in the Vietnam War spoke about the friends they lost in a morning storytelling session at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in D.C.
Peggy Kelly served in the American Red Cross in Vietnam as a “Donut Dollie” — the supplemental recreation team who went out to fire bases to make sure the soldiers knew that they were remembered.
“A touch of home in a combat zone,” Kelly said.
She shared letters that she wrote home during the time. Several of her friends who she met there were killed.
“It was right before the invasion of Cambodia, and we were going from the doll house, where our quarters were, to another facility for a party that evening, and one guy gave us a letter. He was going to meet his wife on R&R in a couple weeks in Hawaii, and he asked us to mail the letter for him. And the other guy, he walked me back to the doll house,” she told WTOP. “And we found out the next day, they were both killed.”
Kelly also told the crowd a tragic story of a fellow “Donut Dolly” who was stabbed to death by an American G.I.
“We did not think that would happen to someone that one of us,” she said.
Others also shared stories of service at the statue memorializing the woman who served in Vietnam. Veteran medic Kerry Pardue said many of those women who took care of the men who were wounded and dying were angels from heaven.
“The women who served as nurses, they were, I really believe, heaven-sent to these guys that were wounded,” he said. “One nurse got in the bed with this guy, and held on to him like his mom, and said a prayer with him as he died.”
Pardue remembered several of the men who died while serving beside him; one saved his life.
He served as an Army medic and was only in country a few days before his friend Benny pulled him to safety during incoming fire. However, Benny was shot in the process.
“Benny died 28 days later of liver failure. His death has always bothered me for my entire life,” Pardue told the crowd. “Thank you, Benny, for reaching out and doing what you did to save me. You are such an important part of who I am.”
Pardue said he suffered from PTSD for years after the war, but connecting with Benny’s family helped him heal.
“They were so thankful, because they never knew what happened to Benny. How he died, and I was able to help fill that out. That brought some healing for me, because I was able to give the family some peace,” he said.
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