December 7, 1969
Dear Mom & Dad,
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the results of our Thanksgiving Day Fast, and my part in it. The information that has flowed slowly back us from the states leads me to believe that much was left out. Knowing how people may react too it I’m going to try & explain to you the motives behind it and the part I played. I do not wish for you to think of me as an extremist & I believe you have the right to know exactly what happen & why.
One year ago, I volunteered to come to Vietnam because I knew that my skills as a nurse were needed and I strongly believed I had an obligation to my country and to the young men who are fighting over here. During the ten months I have been here those beliefs have been fortified rather than destroyed.
But Vietnam has opened my eyes to the destruction of war. I have lived with it, worked with it & viewed all too often.
Due to my profession, I get a very narrow look at the glory of war. After the battle, after the heroics, when the fight is finished -- that is when I and the other medical people work. We are the clean up committee.
Day after day, week after week, 10, 12, 14, 16 hours a day 6 & 7 days a week we work with the injured & maimed. We see our countrys young men, come through the doors of this hospital – many of them never leave & many that do will never quite be the same, for the loss of a limb or two & sometimes three, the destruction of a face or the ruination of a mind will hinder their growth in our society. Right alongside of them come the women & children. & young men of this country we are in. In the same condition, only with nothing to return too – no home or family or modern medical facility to rehabilitate them. Destroyed not by U.S forces but by the enemy we are fighting. Many of them may have helped the “G.I” in the next bed to safety or saved him from ambush, or maybe that “G.I” did the same for him. And, all you can can think is Why, for what purpose is man so bent on destroying himself?
Can I ever explain the feeling one has after taking care of a young 19 year old fellow for 20, 25 days. Progressing toward health only to have a relapse. To work with a group of people to bring him back from the edge, so he can go home to his 18 yo wife, and then to stand by helpless & watch him die—knowing that nothing in the world can save him – no pray, no tears, & no medicine. To stand in the emergency room & maybe lend a hand if needed & see five men 21 to 39 years old in age – brought in – burned beyond recognition, so badly that even their dog tags cannot be read. Injuries, that in the United States would be considered priority cases – here they must wait for 5 other pts because they are just “not” “that bad”. To looking as the doors open and another pt is wheeled in from surgery & wonder will it even end? And then, to go home at the end of a long day & read about our home what we all want so badly to return too & what do we read. Riots, killings, thefts, etc. etc etc. After awhile there is only one question to ask - Why?
This question is being asked more & more as my year comes to an end. For Destruction is the rule, not the exception in war.
Why is it necessary for man to constantly be at war? Why can’t we live together peacefully? Today is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor - - - How far have we come. Are we bound to fight forever. Is this what Jacky has too look forward too 12 years from now. Will my children be destined to die in another land, at another time, for another reason. Or, if things continue as is- will they die in America, in our own country? Will they hate & be hated so much that they must fight for the right to live. Will there be no place on this earth where man can live together without battle. What is the missing Gene in our makeup. Is there nothing we can do? Are we destined to destroy ourselves the way other worlds have before us.
This is why I fasted---peacefully---there was no demonstrations here---it was an individual thing & yes, I partook in it.I partook it because I am a concerned American, because I love my country and I love people and I don’t wish to spend the rest of my life watching us destroy each other -- in Vietnam in Africa, Egypt, Israel, Nigeria, Europe & the United States. I partook in it because it was a sacrifice – a very small one – granted but it was presented as an offering for something better. A belief that the God I have believed in since childhood is not dead, but as alive as the people of this world make him.
We are about to celebrate his birth with a holiday as old as the new year. And people will join together in groups & sing Carols. “Peace on Earth..good Will toward man” How easy it is to sing, how hard it is to practice. Yes, I fasted, for an end to war, all war, for the end of destruction, needless death and bitter hate. Yes I fasted, for Peace on Earth and good will to all men.
There is nothing else left to do.
All my love,
Joan
View Letter: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6
Joan Furey (b.1946)
U.S. Army Nurse Corps, 1968-1970
In this letter to her parents dated December 7, 1969, Joan explains why she took place in the Thanksgiving Fast protest at the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Vietnam.
Courtesy of Joan Furey