Newman, Peggy Jane Oral History

Newman_Peggy_Jane

Peggy Jane Newman was born Sept 1941 in Coaxbury, New Jersey. She attended Huntington Regional High School, graduating in 1959 and then went to nursing school at Mount Sinai in New York City. She got into nursing because her father was invalid and she grew up caring for him. Her family was patriotic, though not military, though her brother was drafted and served in the honor guard. In the last year of nursing school, her school was visited by Army, Navy, and Air Force recruiters and she became really excited about joining, but instead chose to delay. She became a public health nurse in Rensselaer County, NY and then got a public nursing certificate from the University of Colorado. She eventually joined the Army in August of 1967, just as the Vietnam War was starting to heat up. She did basic at Fort Sam and was then sent to Yokohama Camp Zama in Japan as a staff nurse. She was assigned to the burn unit in Kishini, the 106th General Hospital. The hospital would receive patients from Vietnam sometimes within 12 to 24 hours of injury. She explains the unit as emotional and depressing, but found that everyone there would try to help and pick each other up. In 1970, she was assigned as the Head Nurse at the 45th Field Hospital in Vicenza, Italy. She met her husband in Italy and they got married in Fort Sill, OK. While an evening and night supervisor nurse at Fort Sill (Reynolds Army Hospital) and then at Fort Ord (Silas B Hayes Army Hospital in California), she applied and was accepted to the masters in nursing program at the University of Alabama. After receiving her degree in 1981, she went to the Medical Center in Frankfurt as the Chief, Health Clinics Nursing Section. In 1985, she returned to the United States to become the Assistant Chief, Dept of Nursing at Winn Army Community Hospital, Fort Stewart, GA. In 1987, she became Chief, Ambulatory Care Nursing Services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. In 1990, she became Chief Nurse, US Army Hospital (130th Station Hospital) Heidelberg, Germany. During Desert Storm, she worked to prep the hospital, but the hospital was not needed. Peggy Newman retired in 1994 with the rank of Colonel. Her awards include Legion of Merit, Merit Service Medal w/3 OLC, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon (4), and Army Merit Unit Commendation.