Patty Heckel, US Army

MY VIETNAM SISTERS
Don Goodman and Steve Dean/Patty Heckel
Marion, Illinois

 

I was a hard workin’ farm girl 

Walkin’ the beans in Iowa

Dreamin’ of all the places I’d see

When I grew up

Never dreamed I’d go to war

Now when I dream I open that door

And I go back to Vietnam

​

CHORUS

I see dirt roads and quonset huts

A hospital by the South China Sea

We took care of our boys and the enemy too

A nurse just does what she has to do

You have to be hard, you have to be tough

And hide your heart to deal with that stuff

They were more than young women

More than just girls

They were angels…my Vietnam sisters

​

A Rocket hit the Vietnamese ward

That’s when Sharon went to meet the Lord

We flew home on the Freedom Bird

Thanking God we survived that war

I still talk to Sylvia, Barb and Kathy

Agent orange over time took Patti

That was over fifty years ago

​

CHORUS

I see dirt roads and quonset huts

A hospital by the South China Sea

We took care of our boys and the enemy too

A nurse just does what she has to do

You have to be hard, you have to be tough

And hide your heart to deal with that stuff

They were more than young women

More than just girls

They were angels…my Vietnam sisters

​

Now there’s six grandkids, my husband and our boys

Laughter and love and a house full of noise

But sometimes at night, I remember and cry

My brother says my smile doesn’t reach my eyes

​

CHORUS

I see dirt roads and quonset huts

A hospital by the South China Sea

We took care of our boys and the enemy too

A nurse just does what she has to do

You have to be hard, you have to be tough

And hide your heart to deal with that stuff

They were more than young women

More than just girls

They were angels…my Vietnam sisters