Inspired by best-selling author Kristin Hannah’s hit historical novel, The Women, award-winning journalist Nancy E. Lynch debuts The REAL Women: Veterans of Vietnam program Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. at Appoquinimink Library. Lynch’s presentation, underwritten by a grant from Delaware Humanities, is sponsored by the library at 204 E. Main St., Middletown, Del.

She shares REAL war letters from REAL Delaware nurses and a REAL Delaware Donut Dolly she received from the combat zone and published in her unique News Journal column, Nancy’s Vietnam Mailbag, from 1968 to 1972. Lynch compares their REAL experiences to those of Hannah’s fictional Army nurse, Frankie McGrath, a privileged Californian who served two tours in Vietnam after losing her only brother in battle. Contrary to public perception, about 10,000 REAL military women served in Vietnam. Not all were nurses. Barred from combat, they also worked in communications, intelligence, and administrative jobs. Civilian women also volunteered for duty in Vietnam and served as Donut Dollies for the American Red Cross, and in various positions with the Army Special Services, USO, and as news correspondents. “Women can be heroes” was a revelation to the fictional Frankie but an indisputable reality for the REAL women who served, and died, in Vietnam.

Lynch promised in her last column in December 1972 to someday put all the nearly 1,000 war letters and hundreds of pictures she received in a book to honor all Vietnam veterans. She fulfilled her mission on Veterans Day 2008 with the release of her acclaimed Vietnam Mailbag, Voices From the War: 1968-1972. A University of Delaware graduate, Lynch has written seven books, all nonfiction, and lives in Bethel, Del.

This event is underwritten by a grant from the Delaware Humanities.