Olsen, Betty Ann. Died approximately Sept. 29,1968 after being taken captive by the Viet Cong while a missionary nurse at the Leprosarium at Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam. For three days the hospital was under attack and six missionaries were killed by machine gun fire. Betty and another missionary were captured. Shortly after, as they began being moved from camp to camp over 200 miles of mountainous jungle, a captured agricultural advisor was chained up with them. He was the only one to survive and recounts their journey as they became physically depleted, sick from dysentery and malnutrition. They were beset by fungus, infection, and leeches. Their bodies were covered with sores, and they had pyorrhea from beri-beri. Their teeth were loosening and gums infected. He contracted cerebral malaria and nearly died. He credits Olsen with keeping him alive. She forced him to rouse from his delirium to eat and drink water and rice soup. He describes Olsen as "a Katherine Hepburn type...[with] an extra bit of grit." He recounts how Betty began getting weak, and the Viet Cong began to kick and drag her to keep her moving. Just before crossing the border into Cambodia, she weakened to the point that she could no longer move. Ironically, in this area, near a tributary to the Mekong river, fish and livestock abounded, and there was a garden, but the food was denied to the prisoners. They were allowed to gather bamboo shoots, but were not told how to cook it. He recalled that bamboo needs to be boiled in two waters to extract an acid substance. Not knowing this, Olsen and Benge boiled their food only once and were beset with immobilizing stomach cramps within a half-hour; diarrhea soon followed. Betty Ann Olsen weakened and finally died.
Betty was born of missionary parents in Bouake, Ivory Coast/Africa and was educated in Nyack, New York/USA. She went to Vietnam in 1964 as a missionary nurse for the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Betty was 34. From the source of this note, her body has not been recovered. [Ent.6/01] (Source: http://members.aol.com/bear317d/olsen.htm ) |
