Kay Wilhelmy and a close call with the VC

Kay Wilhelmy inoculating Vietnamese children, 1966

Courtesy of Kay Wilhelmy Bauer

Danger from the VC was always near but never predictable. One day Kay and a nurse named Kathie accepted an invitation to watch a film at an ARVN compound in nearby Rach Soi. A US Army captain who was traiing an ARVN unit there had a generator, a projector, and a new American film he wanted to show the two nurses.

The film was so engrossing none of them noticed that darkness was falling outside. Travel after nightfall was risky. While Rach Soi was only a 15-minute drive from Rach Gia, it was a very dangerous 15 minutes: they might be attacked by VC as they bounced their way along the rutted road in their jeep, but the were in equal danger from ARVN soldiers who gbuarded the road into Rach Gia after sundown and might mistake them for VC in the dark.

Kay and Kathie, to their great relief, returned safely to their quarters. Their phone was ringing when they arrived. It was the hospital. The Rach Soi compound had been partially blown up: while they had been watching the movie inside, the VC had laid claymore mines outside. The casualties--ARVN personnel and their families--were being transported to the hospital, and the nurses were needed immediately...


Excerpt from "Kay Wilhelmy Bauer: American Survivor" from Courageous Women of the Vietnam War.