Patricia L. Walsh, biographical info

Biographical Notes on Patricia L. Walsh

Patricia L. Walsh was born August 23, 1942, the eighth of fifteen children in a poor farm family in Minnesota. After working her way through nursing school and anesthesia training, she volunteered to serve as a civilian nurse anesthetist with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Danang, Vietnam, from March 1967 to May 1968. She worked in a Vietnamese hospital so primitive parts of it had dirt floors.

Medical supplies went primarily to the black market, forcing the handful of American and Canadian workers to beg from military hospitals and airbases in the area. The situation was still so desperate they had to peel skin from cadavers to use as burn dressings for napalm patients. There was no security, which resulted in numerous injuries, and they had to survive off the local economy. Most had hepatitis and other illnesses associated with contaminated food and water. Regardless, they handled more casualties than any other medical facility in-country.

Patricia fell in love with a Marine she planned to marry. Unfortunately, he was killed at the beginning of the Tet Offensive and Patricia was badly injured. She continued to work in severe back pain, which later caused her to receive no compensation whatsoever because she did not take time to fill out the appropriate government forms and get them to Washington. She returned home to years of surgery, body casts and braces. While confined to bed she began writing her memories of the war in a notebook. That turned into, "Forever Sad The Hearts", which was published in 1982. The book sold very well and was optioned for film by Paramount Pictures, but it did not go into production because of script problems.

In 1993 Patricia attended the dedication of the Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C., where she was reunited with nurses she had not seen since the war. She captured the reunion on 16mm film, directing in-frame, then dug through film archives all over the country and began to put together her story. She had no background in film and took out a second mortgage on her Victorian home to pay the bills. One year later she had a completed documentary THE OTHER ANGELS.

The film has appeared in a number of festivals, always winning the audience award. It has also received excellent reviews across the country and has been named "Editor's Choice" by the American Library Association. PBS purchased the film with no editorial changes and has run it across the country. The response has been resoundingly positive.

Patricia is a favorite on college campuses, creating such a stir that screening rooms continue to cram in viewers while the film is running. Anna Ramos of WNET television in New York told her following a screening, "I've been in this business a long time, but I have never seen an audience line up to hug a filmmaker." Whatever the politics of the viewer, this is a film that is so unique it shatters every preconception they may have had when the lights went down. Many talk about healing from Vietnam, but Patricia and her film actually take you by the hand and begin that journey.

This is a strong message of peace from a woman who has been there. The resonance it strikes with both students and faculty is truly remarkable. Perhaps because there is so little decency and generosity left in this world, people are overwhelmed by a film about medical workers who risked their lives to save strangers. Young people tell her she is someone they can look up to, and adults gladly claim her as one of their generation. Even Oliver Stone was happy to put his name on THE OTHER ANGELS.

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