REYNOLDS-ANN

PURPLE  HEART  RECIPIENT

Ann Darby Reynolds was born September 12, 1939 in Dover New Hampshire.  After her graduation from Dover High School she enrolled at St. Anselma College in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in 1961.  After hearing a recruiter speak at the college she had dreams of working in a Navy teaching hospital and said she “fell in love” with the Navy and the uniforms so she enlisted in the Navy Nurse Corps in 1962.  After her initial assignment at the Naval Hospital, Pensacola, Florida, she received orders to the Naval Station Hospital in Saigon, Vietnam, where she reported for duty in early 1964.  Later that year, on Christmas Eve, she was in her quarters near the hospital when a terrorist bomb exploded in the basement garage killing two and injuring numerous residents.  Although she suffered a concussion from being hit in the head by a door that became loose and a serious laceration on her leg that would be discovered later, she and other nurses immediately began treatment of the injured before they received treatment themselves.  Several days later the nurses injured in the blast were notified they would receive the Purple Heart Medal, the first such awards to Navy nurses in Vietnam.  The women were not only the first Navy nurses to be injured in Vietnam, they were also the only Navy nurses to receive the Purple Heart during the Vietnam War.

Reynolds continued her Naval career after this incident until retiring from the Navy in 1988 with the rank of Captain.  She completed her 26.5 years of active military service as the Director of Nursing Services at the Naval Hospital, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  In January 2021, CAPT Reynolds published her book, “Silent Night: 26 Years In The Navy – A Nurse’s Memoir,” detailing her experiences in the Navy.

               

               RECEIVING PURPLE HEART  -  LTJG REYNOLDS ON RIGHT END

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)