As I scrolled through the interviews of soldiers, I ended up coming back to the first one I read. Elizabeth A. Allen’s interview stood out to me because of the incredible hardships she was put through and her perseverance despite undoubtedly being the underdog. Her interview included her account of the war in Vietnam and the race war back in America. She had wanted to be an engineer, but ended up being a nurse. Like her family before her, she also entered a war and fought by being a nurse. What I think is the most inspiring thing about her is that she was an African American woman that participated in a war that the country either hated or chose to ignore. She was a captain, yet chose to work on the front line. After serving the maximum time -a year- she still tried to stay and serve longer.
What really hit me the hardest is that despite having to work more than 12 hours each day, she still did not want to come home because of the way she would be treated there. Upset by this knowledge, she tried again and again to receive an extension. I find myself most sympathetic for her when I think about how she was fully aware of how the social conditions back home would affect her. Martin Luther King Jr. had just been shot, and the battle for social equality was still in full swing. America was fighting many battles- segregation versus integration, women’s rights versus inequality, America versus Vietnam. Unfortunately for Allen, she fitted into every single category. She had some sort of social standing in the war and respect, yet at home there would be none. How could you call a place your home if you’re afraid of those who live there? Allen wanted respect, and I wish with all of me that she got some. If not when she came home, then after. She was brave, resilient, and a role model for so many people. Her story inspires me to push past people’s low expectations and strive to become a harder working person that commands respect.
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