Presentation by Nellie Coakley

Nellie served as an Army nurse at the 7th Surgical Hospital in Vietnam from 1968-1969. She completed her military service after Vietnam as the head nurse of the orthopedic-amputee ward at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC. Nellie obtained the first VA Center contract to counsel veterans with war trauma in St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis counties, providing counseling services for 28 years. Nellie also served as the New York State coordinator for the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project. Her presentation will focus on her own experience as it relates to the New York Times Best Selling author Kristin Hannah’s book “The Women”.