Grandma entered the Air Force in 1964.  She had just finished two years of Nurse’s training and was a registered nurse.  She went into the military as an officer.  She went to basic training where she discovered that she was an expert marks woman. But she was a nurse, so the U.S. Government sent her to Sumter, South Carolina and Shaw Air Force Base.  This air base is just outside of a major city called Columbia, South Carolina.  Whenever Grandma had days off, she would escape to the city for the day.  She stayed in the Air Force for three years.  She reenlisted after two years because she had met a man who was kind of a pain in the neck, but she loved him anyway.  I asked her what is was like to be involved in the war, but living in the states.  She said “It was very lonely.  There was a lot of discrimination against women in the military in those days. One time, I put a corps man on report (not Grandpa) and the officer did not follow through with the charges.  ‘Ignore it, she was on her period’ was his excuse for letting the guy off.  It was so stupid.”  Here’s a picture of Grandma as a nurse and in her uniform.  Thank you for your service to our country!  I took her flowers today.  We sat and ate donuts and coffee as I interviewed her.  It made her day to be so remembered.  She cried when she watched the video that comes after this post.  “It means so much when people realize what we did.” I asked Grandma what her favorite patriotic song is.  She said, the Star Spangled Banner.  Here is Whitney Houston singing that amazing song.