Calling to serve follows war nurse

MADEIRA BEACH -- Joan Arcand was a nurse for 40 years. But, in retirement, she's still serving people, particularly veterans.

Mrs. Arcand, of St. Petersburg, is the commander of the all-nurses American Legion Post 122, which meets at Post 273's building in Madeira Beach. And, she is involved in a number of other veterans' organizations.

She was in the Navy from 1950 to 1957, during the Korean War and later. She has been involved in Post 122 for 14 years, serving as its commander for the past 10.

During the Korean War, she was stationed in Guam for nine months and Yokosuka, Japan, for a year at a 5,000-bed hospital.

"In Guam, all they had were supplies from World War II, and there was no penicillin," said Arcand. "No one was really ready for Korea."

She said the wounded would go to the aid stations in Korea, then to M.A.S.H. (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) units.

"They weren't anything like the TV show M.A.S.H.," said Arcand, 73, who ended her Navy stint as a lieutenant. "The real units didn't perform those intricate surgeries out there in the field."

In Japan, Mrs. Arcand would get those soldiers with severe head wounds, coming from Korea.

"We would keep the soldiers safe until they were either well enough to go back to active duty or until they were sent home," she said.

She met her husband, Richard, when they were aboard the Naval ship, the USS Billy Mitchell. Richard Arcand was then a Merchant Marine officer. He later joined the regular Navy.

"We made 11 moves in five years, while Richard was in the Navy," Joan Arcand said. The Arcands moved to Florida in 1986.

While they were living in Philadelphia, shortly after the Korean War, Mrs. Arcand was called back to active duty. But, because she was six months pregnant, she was discharged.

The Arcands have been married for 46 years and now have four grown children and five grandchildren. All of their kids and grandkids live in New England.

Mrs. Arcand continued to work in nursing, mostly for the Visiting Nurses Association. While she graduated from nursing school in Philadelphia in 1949, she went back to school when she was 40 years old. She got her bachelor's in nursing from Lowell State College in Lowell, Mass., in 1974 and a master's degree from the University of Lowell in 1976.

Besides serving as the commander of the all-nurses post, Mrs. Arcand is the current membership chairwoman for the Suncoast Chapter of the Korean War Veterans, Chapter 14, Pinellas Park and chaplain of that group's honor guard.

Among her many duties with the Korean War Veterans organization, she volunteers once a month at the VA Medical Center at Bay Pines. She and other Korean War veterans serve coffee to outpatients at the facility. And, as chaplain of Chapter 14's honor guard, she has to attend lots of funerals.

Mrs. Arcand was also the state treasurer of the Korean War Veterans Association last year and is a service officer for the 20 and 4, honorary women's legionnaires organization. She is also in the Pinellas County Veterans Liaison Council.

"Sometimes my "hats' get intermingled," Mrs. Arcand said.

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

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