Woman uses skills learned as Navy nurse A former Gibsonburg school nurse learned the skills of her profession the hard way — in the midst of war. Barbara Krzewinski, who lives in Fremont, was a U.S. Navy nurse during the Vietnam War. Krzewinski remained on active duty for 22 years before spending another 21 years with the Gibsonburg School District, also working as the district’s truant officer. Her earlier days were a bit rougher than the later ones, and her first day in Vietnam was one of her worst. Krzewinski spent her time during the war on a ship that picked up wounded soldiers. When she arrived for duty the first day, the ship was not in port, and she and the other new nurses spent a day on land. “(The officer in charge) said, ‘If you hear incoming, put on your flack jacket and helmet,’ ” Krzewinski said. “I didn’t even know what ‘incoming’ was.” She learned quickly. In the middle of the night, she heard an explosion near her bunkhouse. “I thought, ‘I’m going to be a POW and I haven’t even been here 24 hours,’ ” she said. “The next morning, there was a big hole outside. It was an exciting first night, and I was happy to get on the ship.” Krzewinski became more than a nurse to many of the young men she treated, often serving as a surrogate mother. When a corpsman was unable to comfort a wounded soldier one night, he turned to Krzewinski for help. “One night, he was almost in tears. He had given the man his pain shots, given him a back rub, and changed his sheets, but he still couldn’t get him to go to sleep. I told him I’d try,” she said. “I just cuddled him and told him he’d be better soon. He went right to sleep. I told the corpsman he just needed his mom.” During her time overseas, Krzewinski had the opportunity to befriend some of the Vietnamese people. One family invited her and a few other Americans to dinner, and she was granted permission to go on one condition: that she eat everything she was served so the hosts wouldn’t be offended. Much of the meal was good, parts were unrecognizable, and the main course of whole chicken was hard to get down. “We had been forewarned that, when they cook chicken, they take off the head, feet and feathers, and leave everything else. You were to use chopsticks to gently remove what you think is meat so you don’t get to the insides,” she said. “I was lucky. I only had diarrhea for two days after that meal. Some of them had it for two weeks.” When Krzewinski finished her tour, she returned home, like many soldiers, to an unwelcoming country. “I hated all the demonstrators. The worst were the little women who showed up at the dock waving divorce papers, saying, ‘You’re not the man I married.’ I wanted to put them in the ocean somewhere,” she said. “No one said too much to me, though. I never got spit on — I would have spit back.” In the past several years, Krzewinski has continued to spend her time giving to others. She has been a CASA and Stein Hospice volunteer; was the first female commandant of the Fremont Veterans of Foreign Wars and the first female commander of the Gibsonburg American Legion; is in the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame; was granted the Golden Deeds award by the Fremont Exchange Club; is a member of Soroptimists, Disabled Vets and Vietnam Veterans; and was one of the first non-World War II veterans to take an Honor Flight trip. Krzewinski said she is grateful for her time in the Navy. “They had a slogan back then: ‘Join the Navy and see the world.’ I did join the Navy, and I did see the world,” she said. “It was a fantastic experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, and they’ve provided me with a wonderful retirement.” thenews-messenger/story/life/people/meet-your-neighbor/2014/10/05/local-woman-uses-skills-learned-navy-nurse/16784381/
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 12:23:39 +0000
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