In April 1966, the doctors with whom Carolyn was working at Fresno General Hospital started receiving their orders for duty in Vietnam. Her two younger brothers were facing the draft, so they volunteered for the Army. Her older brother was already an Air Force veteran of the Korean War. Carolyn didn't want to be the only non-veteran in her family, so she volunteered for the Army Nurse Corps to serve in Vietnam.

She was inducted as a Captain in September 1966, and spent six weeks in boot camp at the Medical Field Service School in Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. Her temporary duty station was at Fort Ord California. She received her port call on February 13, 1967, where she was assigned to the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh.

After six months as a staff nurse in the Emergency Room, she became the Head Nurse in September 1967, and remained in this capacity until September 1968. She was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious Service.

In 1986, she volunteered with the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project to help them raise funds to establish a memorial at the Wall in Washington, DC, to honor the 265,000 women who served during the 12 years of the Vietnam War.

In 1994, Chuck Monges asked her to set up a display for Women Veterans in the Legion of Valor Museum. This led her to becoming a volunteer for the Museum. Getting to know the WWII and Korean War veterans who serve as docents and staff of the Museum has proved to be a rich and rewarding experience. Carolyn loves to hear their "war stories" and other life experiences.

Her mission in life now is to educate the public about what women do in all wars. In this capacity, she has spoken to the American History class at Hoover High School every year since about 1990. This led to the "Treasure Hunt" developed by two teachers at Hoover High as an extra credit assignment that is now shared by other schools in the Fresno and Clovis areas. You will usually find Carolyn at the Museum every Wednesday and other days of the week as needed.

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