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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Korean War, 1950-1953
  • Branch of Service: Navy Nurse Corps
  • Highest Rank: Rear Admiral

View full service history

"He said, 'Nurse, am I going to make it?' And I said, 'Piece of cake, honey.'… Seventeen surgical procedures later, he died. And I never, ever, ever told another patient they’d make it." (Audio interview, 17:18)

Serving on a hospital ship off the coast of Vietnam in 1968, Rear Admiral Frances Buckley was already a seasoned veteran of the Navy Nurse Corps, having served stateside during the Korean War as well as overseas in Rota, Spain. Sailing up the coast from Da Nang to Quang Tri to Phu Bai to Chu Lai, she supervised the operating room nurses and corpsmen. Conditions in a hospital ship operating room were chaotic: often, patients had multiple wounds requiring several surgical teams to work on them simultaneously. While much of her job focused on logistics, she was also deeply affected by the patients that she treated—and sometimes lost. After the war, she continued her career in military nursing, eventually serving as Director of the Navy Nurse Corps from 1979 to 1983.

Frances Buckley Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript: XML

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About this Item

Title

  • Frances Buckley Collection

Names

  • Breanne Herring
  • Buckley, Frances
  • National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
  • Jacobs, Louise

Home State

  • CA

Headings

  • -  Buckley, Frances
  • -  Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy Nurse Corps.
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Korean War, 1950-1953

    • Branch of Service: Navy Nurse Corps
    • Highest Rank: Rear Admiral
    • Military Status: Veteran

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Photograph: Original photographic print [1 item] -- Portrait (collected unknown)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 07/27/2003)
  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 07/27/2003)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 07/27/2003)
  • Computer File: CD [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 07/27/2003)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/18970

Cite as

  • Frances Buckley Collection (AFC/2001/001/18970), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio
  • image
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Breanne Herring, Frances Buckley, National Court Reporters Association, and Louise Jacobs. Frances Buckley Collection. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.18970/.

APA citation style:

Breanne Herring, Buckley, F., National Court Reporters Association & Jacobs, L. Frances Buckley Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.18970/.

MLA citation style:

Breanne Herring, et al. Frances Buckley Collection. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.18970/>.