Navy Lt. Anne Jay saved countless lives during the deadliest years of the Vietnam War. As an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse from 1968 to 1969, she served on the USS Repose, a hospital ship that cruised along the South Vietnamese coast, receiving helicopters filled with soldiers, Marines and civilians wounded by war.
Her daily routine began with the clanging of a bell over the public address system, followed by a page for doctors and nurses, and sometimes an urgent call for a chaplain. As she treated critical or serious patients covered in the grime of combat, emergencies became the norm rather than the exception.
In an essay she wrote onboard the ship, Jay reflected on the challenges of serving in a wartime ICU, acknowledging that no textbook or civilian experience could have prepared her. Nonetheless, she found her assignment rewarding. “Emotionally, you feel as though you’ve taken a giant step when you see the man before you open his eyes, look at you and breathe again,” she wrote. She also appreciated thank-you letters from former patients, which were posted in the ward to remind her and her team that their efforts were worthwhile.
On March 20, 2026, Jay’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery honored her life and wartime service. Navy sailors in dress blues marched her urn and a folded American flag from the hearse to Columbarium in Section 82, where they unfolded the flag and held it tightly over her urn.
U.S. Navy Chaplain (Lt.) Everett Fraley stated that Jay embodied the Navy's core values of “honor, courage and commitment without apology.” For Jay, he said, these words were not simply a motto but “described who she was.”
Stephen, who also served in the Navy as a doctor, shared that Anne earned her commission after graduating from Ohio State University in 1966. The couple met while working in an ICU at the Charleston Navy Base Hospital in South Carolina. After noticing her nursing skills and care for her patients, he recalled, “I said to myself, ‘I need to meet her.’” Two years later, he proposed before she shipped out on the Repose.
After returning from Vietnam, they married and had four children: Stephen F., Audrey, Matt and Alan. She became a pediatric nurse and earned two master’s degrees. Jay devoted her later years to gardening and spending time with her grandchildren. Her husband noted that her love for children extended to those beyond her own. During the war, he said, she spent her free time with wounded Vietnamese children onboard the Repose, interacting with them through a translator.
After the service, Jay’s daughter Audrey said that her mother only spoke about her war experiences when she was older. “I remember her telling me about the young men—18, 19 and 20—who could not be saved and how hard that was psychologically,” she stated. “All she could do was comfort them.”
Audrey added that the war affected her mother in another, unexpected, way. “She never went on a cruise, ever,” she said. “She would ask, ‘Who pays money to go on a boat?’” Jay had served her time on open water and was glad to leave it behind her.
Jay chose to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, where future generations could visit and reflect on her service. Her husband, Stephen, understood her decision. “There’s just something right about Arlington,” he said. “When you see it, you see truth.”
