Nancy M. Christ Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
What's in the full collection?: 23 March 2008 oral history transcript; Tape of "Til the white dove flies alone" by Crystal Gayle made to commemorate the Vietnam Women's Memorial, Washington D.C. November 11, 1993.
Full biography: Nancy Margaret Christ of North Brunswick, New Jersey, served in the United States Army Nurse Corps from 1961 to 1981. Christ earned a Bronze Star for her service during the Vietnam War and retired as a lieutenant colonel. Nancy Margaret Christ was born in North Brunswick, New Jersey. After graduating from high school there in 1949, she attended Ann May School of Nursing in Neptune, New Jersey. After completing the program in 1952, she briefly remained at Fitkin Hospital as an operating room nurse before moving with friends to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1953. In 1954 she returned to New Jersey to work at Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield. She later worked at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital while attending Teachers College at Columbia University to earn her bachelor's degree in nursing. Christ joined the United States Army Nurse Corps in 1961 in order to help pay for her last year of tuition. After finishing her degree in 1962, Christ was stationed at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco, California. During the Cuban missile crisis that fall, Christ was deployed to Miami, Florida. She was next stationed at West Point, where she cared for cadets, and then was transferred to UCSF Medical Center for graduate study. At that point, Christ's twin sister joined the Army Nurse Corps as well and requested duty at Letterman Army Hospital. Christ served in the 3rd Field Hospital at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam for a year, beginning in February 1966. While there, Christ worked alongside her twin, and earned the Bronze Star for exemplary service. After her return from Vietnam in 1967, Christ worked as an army recruiter until 1969, when she returned to duty as a practicing army nurse. Christ retired from the army as a lieutenant colonel in 1981.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Army -- Army Nurse Corps
Conflict: Post World War II, Korea (1947-1963)
Vietnam Era (1964-1974)
Post-Vietnam, Panama, Grenada (1975-1989)
Subject headings: Korean War, 1950-1953
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
United States--History--1945-
United States. Army--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Oral history interview with Nancy M. Christ; Primarily documents Nancy M. Christ's childhood in New Jersey, nursing career, and experiences in the Army Nurse Corps from 1961 to 1981. Nancy Christ describes her upbringing in New Jersey and her decision to go into nursing. She tells of antics during nursing school, her experiences in Miami Beach, and her education and training while at Columbia University. Christ primarily focuses on her life as a career military officer and her service during the Vietnam War and the Cuban missile crisis. She details her deployment to Miami in September and October 1962, her decision to request transfer to Vietnam when her sister was already there, and her activities there. " Other subjects include sexual harassment in the military, alcoholism in the military and Christ's personal struggle, having a twin sister also serve as an army nurse, her experiences in a parachuting club, and her misadventure attempting to be on the Bob Hope Show in Vietnam. Christ also discusses her definition of patriotism, her views on the first amendment, and her belief in God.

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Nancy M. Christ Collection

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