Lunary Love Oral History

Oral history interview with Lunary Love
Primarily documents Lunary Love's career as a nurse and her experiences as a nurse in the Women in the Air Force (WAF) in the 1950s. Topics on her pre-service life include her memories of World War II and her uncle's military service and classmates enlisting in the military during the Korean War. Discussion of the beginning of her nursing career includes hospitals recruiting nurses after losing women to the military during World War II; the decline in civilian nurses with the onset of the Korean War; and the long shifts at Sternberger Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. " Love describes her military service from 1952 to 1955, including her reasons for joining the air force instead of the army; illness delaying her basic training assignment; the heat at Gunter Air Force Base in Alabama; flying in air force planes; barracks life at Gunter; the reason she was unable to work in pediatrics; shifts at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas; her reasons for not re-enlisting; hospital supervisors; working with people from other areas of the country; and treatment by male co-workers. Other topics include James Dean movies; a close relationship with a serviceman; the end of the Korean Conflict; uniforms; an embarrassing story about smoking in a hospital; and joining the reserves. " Post-service topics include working at Wesley Long Community Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina; her decision to work at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill; reasons for never returning to school; and caring for her ill father.