Top of page

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Korean War, 1950-1953
  • Branch of Service: Army Nurse Corps
  • Unit of Service: Brooke Army Medical Center; Letterman General Hospital; Valley Forge General Hospital; 8063 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH); Walter Reed Medical Center
  • Location of Service: Fort Sam Houston, Texas; San Francisco, California; Pennsylvania; Korea; Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland; Washington, DC; Landstuhl, Germany; Frankfurt, Germany; Japan; Fort Benning, Georgia
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

View full service history

"There was something that stirred up the adrenalin, I think, that really kept you going. You were needed there." (Transcript of 1986 interview, pages 26-27)

After three years of neurosurgical nurse work at a New York hospital, 24-year-old Regina Schiffman decided to make a career in the U.S. Army. A year after she enlisted, the U.S. was at war in Korea, and in the summer of 1951 she found herself working in the operating room of a MASH unit. Conditions were primitive in both the O.R. (litters were balanced on saw horses, a pot-bellied stove was the sole source of heat in the frigid winter) and in her tent (she bathed most of the time out of her helmet). But Schiffman drew strength from the selflessness of her mission and the camaraderie of her fellow nurses and the physicians.

Regina H. Schiffman Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript: XML

More Resources

View 18 images in sequence.
[ Photo Album ]
View Enlarged Image
[ Letter from Department of the Army to LTC Regina Schiffman 3/10/87 ]
View Enlarged Image
[ Letter from Department of the Army to LTC Regina Schiffman 3/30/87 ]

About this Item

Title

  • Regina H. Schiffman Collection

Names

  • Susan Cackler
  • Schiffman, Regina H.
  • National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
  • Stewart, Ruth
  • Women's Overseas Service League, San Antonio Unit

State of Birth

  • PA

Home State

  • TX

Headings

  • -  Schiffman, Regina H.
  • -  Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army Nurse Corps.
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army Nurse Corps.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Female

Race

  • White

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Korean War, 1950-1953

    • Branch of Service: Army Nurse Corps
    • Unit of Service: Brooke Army Medical Center; Letterman General Hospital; Valley Forge General Hospital; 8063 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH); Walter Reed Medical Center
    • Location of Service: Fort Sam Houston, Texas; San Francisco, California; Pennsylvania; Korea; Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland; Washington, DC; Landstuhl, Germany; Frankfurt, Germany; Japan; Fort Benning, Georgia
    • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
    • Dates of Service: 1949-1970
    • Military Status: Veteran

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Branch of Service: Army Nurse Corps
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Manuscript: Correspondence [2 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 03/1987)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 01/14/2004)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [2 items] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 1986 - 2009)
  • Photograph: Mixed (Multiple types of photographs) [9 items] -- Photograph (collected unknown)
  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 11/7/2007)
  • Computer File: CD [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 01/14/2004)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/41229

Cite as

  • Regina H. Schiffman Collection (AFC/2001/001/41229), 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:

Susan Cackler, Regina H Schiffman, National Court Reporters Association, Ruth Stewart, and San Antonio Unit Women'S Overseas Service League. Regina H. Schiffman Collection. 1949. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.41229/.

APA citation style:

Susan Cackler, Schiffman, R. H., National Court Reporters Association, Stewart, R. & Women'S Overseas Service League, S. A. U. (1949) Regina H. Schiffman Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.41229/.

MLA citation style:

Susan Cackler, et al. Regina H. Schiffman Collection. 1949. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.41229/>.