Bestselling US author Kristin Hannah honours Vietnam War nurses in new novel, The Women

On May 21, 1968, nurse Jan McCarthy arrived in South Vietnam to take up a post at the 1st Australian Field Hospital at Vũng Tàu. While Hannah describes the Vietnam War as "a national embarrassment" for the US, she says the contribution of "young naïve … nurses who answered their country's call to duty and went to war" should be more widely recognised. Such was the culture of silence surrounding the Vietnam War that many nurses journalist Annabelle Brayley interviewed didn't tell anyone about their service — not even their families. Annabelle Brayley on Conversations Photo shows A lady smiling with a beige hat on and colourful scarf The Australian author discusses her book honouring the nurses of the Vietnam War. "It will be a permanent display that includes civilian, RAAF and army nurses, and … there'll be a very loose chronological story of their service in Vietnam that will reflect a story of the Vietnam War itself," Brayley says.