Army Vietnam War Chicago, IL Flight date: 08/28/24
By Wendy L. Ellis, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer
It was a childhood plagued with asthma and multiple hospital stays that first put the thought of nursing into Denise O’Leary Kennedy’s head. She saw so many nurses during those early years she couldn’t help but admire them. Nonetheless, except for the annual trips to the hospital, oxygen tents and “shots in the tush”, her childhood was happy, and tinged with a bit of humor.
“It was a truly south side existence,” says Kennedy. “Sixteen years of Catholic schools, half Irish, half German. My family name is O’Leary, so my mother went through her whole married life as Mrs. O’Leary. In Chicago.” It was in June of 1967, just as her high school years were ending, she saw something that sealed the deal for her.
The American Journal of Nursing published a picture on its back cover that she remembers to this day. “It was an Army nurse in fatigues, looking down at a soldier, and it said “The most beautiful girl in the world”. That’s how she looks to the wounded American soldier. That was before I started college, but that’s when I said, I’m going to go into the army when I’m done.” She enrolled in the nursing program at Xavier College and before her junior year became part of the Army Student Nurse program. The program paid for her last two years of college and asked for a three-year commitment after graduation, though she stayed in for four.
After basic she was sent to Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, the home of the Rangers, and anybody else who jumps out of an airplane. She worked in the ER, fixing broken ankles for soldiers who landed wrong. By March of 1972 she was ready for more so she volunteered to go overseas. “I am actually a Vietnam era veteran, but I was a couple years too young,” says Kennedy. “Before that- 67,68,69- you went to basic training and then straight to Vietnam. I was sent to the 121st Evac hospital in Seoul.” That was March of 1972, and she worked the ICU there for her full 13-month tour, though she saw mostly accidents among soldiers stationed there. Most wounded Vietnam soldier were sent back to the US. Only those with family in Korea were sent her way., and none were combat casualties. The one gunshot wound she remembers happened to a soldier up north, where it was extremely cold. “I don’t know how he got shot, “says Kennedy. “But it was so cold he made it to the hospital. If it hadn’t been that cold, he would have bled out.”
At 23 years old, she spent her Christmas holiday with other nurses visiting Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Singapore, something she would never have done had she not joined the Army.
When she came back to the US in 1973 she was assigned to DeWitt Army Hospital, home of the engineers, in Virginia. Two years later her mother suffered a stroke back in Chicago, and after a year of traveling back and forth on weekends, she made the move back home to Chicago. She took her talents to Rush St. Luke’s, and then Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park. “I was 32 and didn’t think I’d ever get married, “says Kennedy. “So I bought a house.”
Two years later, a fellow nurse recommended Joe Kennedy to do her taxes, and her future changed. “That was in ’83, and we got married in ’84,” says Kennedy. “After tax season of course.”
After a year in her tiny home in Romeoville, the couple moved to Arlington Heights to be closer to Joe’s office. “We sold a house, bought a house and found out we were pregnant all within two weeks’ time.” When her life changes, it happens fast. It was 1986 and her nursing career went on hiatus for ten years, during which she had two sons. In 1996 she went back to work part-time nights in the ICU at Sherman Hospital in Elgin. “I figured I’d stay a few years, then find something closer,” says Kennedy.” I retired from there 22 years later.”
Her husband, who is older, has now gone into assisted living, and she is facing a move to be close to him, after 38 years in their Arlington Heights home. Looking back, she is proud of her military service, and is grateful for all that her service brought into her life. Paying for two years of college, letting her see parts of the world she might never have seen, helping her buy not one, but two houses. “It was a good, great experience,” says Kennedy. “Coming back from Korea in ’73 I didn’t get any of the flack some veterans talk about. But then I didn’t wear a uniform. I don’t know what it’s like to be in the military now, but I think more nurses should definitely consider it.”
It was the Honor Flight Chicago partnership with Operation HerStory for an all-female veteran flight in October of 2022 that caught Kennedy’s interest and caused her to fill out an application. At the time she was told she was 42 months away. But every January she got an update, and this year Honor Flight Chicago becomes a reality for her.
She is looking forward to her day of honor, along with all the other veterans who will join her on this trip to Washington D.C. Thank you Captain Kennedy for your service!