The M*A*S*H medical unit was
the last to evacuate the North
Korean port of Hungnam just
before Christmas 1950. Bloodied
American troops were heading
south to regroup after their epic first
encounter with the Chinese Army.
The casualties were as staggering
as the bone-numbing cold. Still,
“everything seemed all right,” a
young soldier said, “as long as the
nurses were here.”
One of them was Captain Barbara
Jean Nichols of the U.S. Army Nurse
Corps. Born just two years after
American women won the right
to vote, she helped build Boeing
bombers as a teenager during World
War II. In Korea and Vietnam she
devoted her spare time to helping
orphaned children. Her ancestors
have fought for the U.S. in every war
since 1775.