wev's What? Again? 366/2016
- Thread starter wev
- Start date
Not my picture and probably taken with an old Kodak, but I came across this looking for something else today and I'm posting it up anyway, as it seems fitting on this Veteran's Day. This is my great aunt Dorothy Tessen, then a major, taken in Korea, where she was chief surgery nurse of the 8076th Mash Unit. She joined up in 1939, spent WWII in the Philippines, New Guinea, North Africa, Italy, France, Germany, and England. She was in Korea for the duration of that mess, was chief of nurses at Fort Sam Houston, did two stints in Vietnam, and finally retired a full colonel in 1974. Though she was among the five ranking female officers at the time and the only one given a Bronze Star for action in combat, she was passed over for a General's star because she was known (unofficially, of course) to be a lesbian. She never made a deal of it, just said 'we are what we are, they do what they do.' When she passed in 1986, she specifically declined to be buried at Arlington.
The back says "Dec '52 -- bout 15 deg"
The back says "Dec '52 -- bout 15 deg"
She was something, all right. Great Chicago blues harmonica player, only drank rye whiskey neat, and you wouldn't want to play poker with her -- you'd be walking home with nothing but your socks.