KIA NURSE

To the memory of Lt. Sharon Lane, RN, ANC

It seems like just yesterday we were fledgling student nurses

Giggling through the midnight shift.

Learning, sharing, loving, caring—that’s what combat nurses do.

Sharon died in Vietnam.

A year of working Intensive Care on only eve’nings

Then off to Army nursing.

Laughing, giving, playing, living—that’s what combat nurses do.

Sharon died in Vietnam.

Fort Benning just about long enough for us to learn the ropes

Then on a plane to Southeast Asia.

Learning, sharing, loving, caring—that’s what combat nurses do.

Sharon died in Vietnam.

Choppers with noisy blades—whup, whup as they hover near

Fallen soldiers flying in.

Gasping, staring, cutting, tearing,—that’s what combat nurses do.

Sharon died in Vietnam.

We quickly learn incoming wounded from INCOMING

Hospitals are dangerous.

Falling, sighing, bleeding, dying—combat nurses never do.

But Sharon did.

by Carolyn Coombs Wines, © 2005