1 OH-Avelina P. Ross
Avelina (Pedreschi) Ross was born in Oct 1938 in Chuquicamata, Chile. The town was known for having a large copper mine. She grew up in he town and went to high school nearby, eventually going to Catholic university in Santiago for nursing, graduating in Dec 1959. Because the mining company was American, she was exposed to Americans as a child and tried to learn English and French. She worked at a hospital in California for about a year before joining the Army. She remembers when the Americans helped Chile after an earthquake, and she felt that she was partially paying them back. She could not get into the Air Force or the Navy, as she was not a citizen. The Army decided to take her regardless. She went to Fort Sam Houston for orientation as a Second Lieutenant and then went to Walter Reed to work in neurosurgery in 1961. Eventually going to Verdun, France, she worked at the 319 Station Hospital. She met her husband and married in France in 1964. She then got orders to go to Vietnam in March 1966, fast-tracking her citizenship. In Vietnam, she remembers being initially bored, until they started to receive their first patients. The first group was the Australians from their first engagement. She remembers a few procedures and situations that were difficult. There were a lot of amputees. She served as an Army Nurse from 1961 to 1967, including 19 months in Vietnam at the 36th evac, and the 3rd and 17th field hospitals, leaving as a Captain.
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