BJ Kramer (b. 1942), of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, served in the Army Nurse Corps from 1961-1983. "BJ" Kramer was born 13 November 1942 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. She graduated from high school in 1960, and then began a registered nurse program at St. Agnes Hospital School of Nursing in Philadelphia. At the end of her second year of nurses' training, Kramer enlisted in the United States Army Student Nurses Program, which provided financial assistance in exchange for serving on active duty in the U.S Army Nurse Corps for two years after graduation. In 1964, Kramer reported to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, for Basic Officer Leaders Course. She learned procedures for triage and emergency evacuation of casualties. In 1965, Kramer volunteered for assignment in Incheon, Korea, at the 121st Evacuation Hospital. In 1967 and 1968 she was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, before volunteering for assignment to Vietnam. Kramer deployed with the 312th Evacuation Hospital to Chu Lai, and treated not only for U.S. soldiers, but the Vietnamese and Viet Cong as well. Kramer was in Vietnam during the first Tet Offensive at the end of January 1968, and in June 1969, was witness to the attack by the Viet Cong on the 312th Evacuation Hospital that left Sharon Ann Lane dead, the only American nurse to be killed in Vietnam by hostile fire. Kramer returned to the United States in 1970 and began an Advanced Nursing Course at Fort Sam Houston. In 1971, she was assigned to Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where she worked in the Emergency Room and amputee clinic. In 1972, Kramer was assigned to Fort Gordon, Georgia, where she began classes at Augusta College and earned her bachelor of science in nursing in 1974. In 1975, Kramer was assigned to Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, where she worked as chief of the medical clinics. In 1976, she completed a nursing administrator course, and was then assigned to Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia for two years. In 1978, Kramer was assigned chief nurse to the 16th Combat Support Unit, Irwin Army Community Hospital, at Fort Riley, Kansas, where she had to the opportunity to assist with the assembly of a MUST (Medical Unit, Self-contained, Transportable) unit at a Navajo Indian hospital in Gallup, New Mexico. Her next assignment was to reopen Weed Army Community Hospital at Fort Irwin, California in 1980. In 1982, Kramer began her final assignment as chief nurse at Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She retired in 1984, after twenty-two years in the Army Nurse Corps.
