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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Persian Gulf War, 1991; Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Navy Nurse Corps
  • Location of Service: Corpus Christi, Texas; Sigonella, Sicily; Portsmouth, Virginia; Guam (Mariana Islands); Long Beach and San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; Washington, DC; Bethesda, Maryland
  • Highest Rank: Captain

View full service history

"I was not prepared for taking care of people who had been to war." (Audio interview, 8:46).

Although she did not serve in-country, Navy nurse Captain Gail Gutierrez saw the ravages of the war first hand. Sent to Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1969, straight out of nursing school, she treated patients who had been flown home from Vietnam with debilitating injuries. Working with men who were so young and so badly wounded left her feeling inadequate and helpless. While she found it hard to cope with the stress and exhaustion of wartime nursing, she discovered that her natural assertiveness made her a perfect fit for a Navy hospital ward. Following her time in naval medicine, she retired in 1994 and embarked on a second career as an artist.

Gail A. Gutierrez Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript: XML

About this Item

Title

  • Gail A. Gutierrez Collection

Names

  • Roni Dunford
  • Rhonda M. Foster
  • Gutierrez, Gail A.
  • National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
  • Dombrowski, Esther

State of Birth

  • PA

Home State

  • MD

Headings

  • -  Gutierrez, Gail A.
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy Nurse Corps.
  • -  Persian Gulf War, 1991 -- Personal Narratives

Repository

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

Gender

  • Female

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Branch of Service: Navy Nurse Corps
    • Location of Service: Corpus Christi, Texas; Sigonella, Sicily; Portsmouth, Virginia; Guam (Mariana Islands); Long Beach and San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; Washington, DC; Bethesda, Maryland
    • Highest Rank: Captain
    • Dates of Service: 1968-1994
    • Military Status: Veteran

  • Persian Gulf War, 1991

    • Dates of Service: 1968-1994
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 7/10/2004)
  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 11/7/2007)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 11/10/2008)
  • Computer File: CD [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 11/10/2008)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/33163

Cite as

  • Gail A. Gutierrez Collection (AFC/2001/001/33163), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

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:

Roni Dunford, Rhonda M. Foster, Gail A Gutierrez, National Court Reporters Association, and Esther Dombrowski. Gail A. Gutierrez Collection. 1968. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.33163/.

APA citation style:

Roni Dunford, Rhonda M. Foster, Gutierrez, G. A., National Court Reporters Association & Dombrowski, E. (1968) Gail A. Gutierrez Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.33163/.

MLA citation style:

Roni Dunford, et al. Gail A. Gutierrez Collection. 1968. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.33163/>.