Readers of historical fiction will likely recognize Kristin Hannah’s bestselling novel “The Women,” the most borrowed book in American libraries and the nation’s top-selling novel of 2024. The story follows a young Army nurse who serves in Vietnam and returns home to a politically divided nation where her service is overlooked — and often condemned.
On Saturday, four real-life Vietnam nurse veterans will take the stage at the Kenan Center’s Taylor Theater for a rare roundtable discussion about their wartime experiences and the lives they built after returning home.
The free admission program begins at 1 p.m. with a keynote address by Joan Furey, followed by a moderated conversation featuring Furey, Peggy Mikelonis, Edie Meeks and M’Lou Sorrin.
Furey volunteered for the Army Nurse Corps in 1968 and served at the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku from 1969 to 1970, caring for critically wounded soldiers arriving from the battlefield. Awarded the Bronze Star for her service, she later became a pioneer in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at the Department of Veterans Affairs, helped establish one of the nation’s first VA programs for women veterans with PTSD, served as director of the VA Center for Women Veterans, testified before Congress, and co-edited “Visions of War, Dreams of Peace.” She also appears prominently in Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary “The Vietnam War.”
Mikelonis served as a first lieutenant at the 3rd Surgical Hospital in Binh Thuy from 1971 to 1972. Following her military service, she spent more than four decades with the Department of Veterans Affairs, helping shape the VA’s Women’s Health Program and retiring after nearly 47 years of federal service.
Meeks served in both Saigon and Pleiku during 1968 and 1969, working in intensive care units that treated some of the war’s most seriously wounded soldiers. She later served for 25 years on the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial and continues her advocacy through veterans organizations.
Sorrin served at evacuation hospitals in Cu Chi and Qui Nhon beginning in 1968. After returning home, she became an artist, writer, and advocate whose work continues to explore the Vietnam experience. Her painting of a Vietnam nurse caring for a wounded soldier is featured in the exhibition “I Was There: Unknown Stories of the Vietnam War,” currently on display at the Kenan Center.
Copies of “Visions of War, Dreams of Peace” will be available for purchase through Lock City Books, and Joan Furey will sign books following the program.
The event is presented in conjunction with “I Was There: Unknown Stories of the Vietnam War,” the Lockport Public Arts Council’s exhibition at the Kenan Center. The exhibition runs through Sept. 20 and tells the stories of local veterans through artifacts, photographs, film, and personal accounts.