The Colonel is a Lady The story of Lt. Colonel Evangeline P. “Jamie” Jamison By Ken Riege USAF Veteran
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The story of Evangeline Jamison and her service to our country brings to life the detail of individual bravery and sacrifices of our Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airman in war, and the human compassion and caring for the troops that she and the other nurses provided. She was a heroine and heroic real life action figure Army nurse in the Army Nurses Corps. She served her country in three wars spanning the “Greatest Generation” to the Vietnam War. She was also the driving force behind the concept and creation of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington D.C.
Evangeline Jamison was inducted into the Army on 3 Feb 1943 as a Reserve Nurse in the Army Nurses Corps with the rank of 2nd. Lieutenant and she did not enter into her Oath of Office lightly. Her life’s work would attest to that. She had a firm resolve to do her very best and one of the greatest things about Jamie (as she preferred to be called) is that she would never let someone down if they needed help. There are few people in the world who are genuinely concerned about others; Jamie was one of the few. Now I want to back this story up a bit to when the first time I had heard of Lt. Colonel Jamison. We have many military veterans who stay at the Comfort Suites and on one particular day I was asked about one of the displays at the hotel. *See picture below.
This is a fantastic book that can be found on Amazon and is a definite read.
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May 2021
I have had this poster on display at the Comfort Suites in Gallup for almost 10 years now and I would say for the first 5 years it was up, I had never noticed the name on the dog tags. That was until I was asked if I had ever looked up the name of Evangeline Jamison and was told about a book called, “The Colonel is a Lady” by Beverly
Thompson. I was amazed with the story that I was told by my guest who had served under Lt. Colonel Jamison in Vietnam as a nurse. As we looked at the poster, near the bottom is a statue of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial which Lt. Colonel Jamison played a big part in the design and as she would put it, was her greatest accomplishment. I would beg to differ as I am sure there are thousands of American Service Members with whom their lives she touched and would have “Jamie” to thank for surviving. Writing this story got me to thinking about a dear friend of mine who has kept in constant contact with his Army Nurse who helped save his life (on more than one occasion). I am talking about MOH Recipient (US Army,
