Veterans Remember: Crystal Epperson was an Air Force nurse in Korea, Vietnam

To bring in the wounded from the field, helicopters played a critical role in Vietnam. However, only medics were allowed to ride on them with the troops. Epperson had been trained as a flight nurse, and made up her mind one day that she wanted to go along. She talked a pilot into allowing her. They flew to a clearing where they set down to pick up four wounded troops. They had them loaded and Epperson was climbing back aboard when something that “felt like fire” hit her in the leg.