Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:32 | It was odd. Pete and Susan Tancredi were returning from Vietnam and they were instructed to wear their dress blues, carry civilian clothes, and change in the restroom as soon as they landed. Unfortunately, after landing, they suffered another indignity. What was going on?
Keywords : Pete Tancredi Susan Tancredi Vietnam protest Germany Washington DC Pentagon Army Medical Service Corps Surgeon General Walter Reed Army Medical Center Fort Myer intensive care unit (ICU)
There were definite education benefits to the Army, so, before they met, Pete and Susan Tancredi both had committed to service while pursuing a college degree. Neither of them was very concerned about going to Vietnam. If one had to go, maybe they could both go.
Susan Tancredi hoped that she and Pete Tancredi would be married in time to defer him from going to Vietnam, but they were a little late. The wheels were in motion and, following her plan, they both deployed without knowing where they would be going. They were very fortunate to be assigned to the same facility, the 95th Evacuation Hospital.
At the beginning of Pete Tancredi's tour, the Navy was the big power in I Corps, the northernmost part of South Vietnam. When the Navy withdrew, the evacuation hospital administrator had some problems with the Army supply chain. His wife, Susan, was a post-op nurse in the same facility.
Jim and Susan Tancredi were doubly fortunate. They were fortunate to be deployed together to the same Army hospital in Vietnam and they were fortunate they hardly ever came under hostile fire there. Somehow they arranged adjacent rooms and, inevitably, there were architectural modifications.
Pete and Susan Tancredi share their concern about anti-war protestors who did not distinguish between the decision makers and the soldiers tasked with fighting the Vietnam War. They did not deserve disrespect and indignity for doing their duty.
