Nursing the Years Back to Health

In many ways, Vietnam War veteran Michelle Hancox is a study in contrast.

An admitted anti-war demonstrator prior to her enlistment in the Navy as a nurse, Hancox said she wanted to support the men and women in the military.

"I did not agree with the Vietnam War, or the people behind it because it really was all about politics," she said, "however I wanted to show my support for the troops who were there fighting."

Graduating from nursing school and living in a small town in upstate New York, the military also provided the opportunity in Hancox view to get away and perhaps move up in her profession.

"I couldn't see moving up in my field, and I had a need to get away, so the military in some way seemed to be a safe way to do this," she said.

After being accepted in the US Navy in 1973, Hancox admitted she balked at first about going through with it. However, her father who was a World War II Navy veteran himself, encouraged her to do it.

She was assigned to a small hospital (duty station) at Patuxent Naval Air Station in southern Maryland, which Hancox said was not as 'far away' as she was hoping to be assigned.

"I had come from working in a hospital where I was in charge of 30 patients in a ward, and this was a small hospital with 50 beds in total. I had hoped to be on a hospital ship, but in the navy you go where you are assigned," she said.

However, she said her experience was one she would never regret.

"For me it was a real growing up experience. I was 22 when I entered the Navy, and although I wasn't brought up in a racist environment, this was the first time I was made aware of minorities and those issues that came along with it," she explained. She said a colleague who had not come back to report as scheduled and was several days late coming back from leave was put on report, and being black, she said he had assumed that was why she reported him.

"In part, it was very much 'the times' - people were very tense over those issues, and it had taken me by surprise, because to me a co-worker was a co-worker, I didn't care about color."

Hancox also credits her Navy experience for helping foster her independence, something she passed along to her two children.

"I realized I was way too dependent on my parents, and I had to figure things out all on my own. So when I became a parent, our kids were taught the same thing, to work out things themselves," she said.

'The times' that Vietnam vets were a part of also brought a secondary tragedy to the war: drug and alcohol abuse, and Hancox saw first hand the struggles returning soldiers were dealing with in addition to the stress of combat.

"They would come back from Vietnam already addicts or alcoholics, and truthfully I would be too. I can't imagine having to see what they did, but I loved taking care of the guys, especially during my six months at Bethesda Naval hospital. They were 'regulars' but I loved the work."

Hancox spent her remaining time in the Navy at Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois with her husband and eventually moved to Milwaukee after she was discharged in 1975.  She continued to put her experience to work in the OR at St. Luke's hospital until she had to retire at the age of 59 due to a stroke.

She recently moved to in Muskego and says that her apartment overlooking the water is nice, but something tells you that she feels there's more to be done.

"I had a stroke two years ago, and I've made a lot of progress, but I'm not where I used to be," Hancox said, joking, "I think I am the youngest person here." After a lifetime of adjusting to challenges, however, it would seem her story won't end here.