NA NEWS
From the Archives: 1968
NA’s Army Nurse Evelyn Kowalchuk By Jim Coe, Archivist
Evelyn Kowalchuk
Following a visit to Newark Academy last school year, my predecessor, former Archivist Blackie Parlin, noticed a Support the Troops Club’s plaque, which prompted him to proudly tell me about a former NA school nurse who he felt deserved to be recognized for her service to our country: Evelyn Kowalchuk. “She flew with critically wounded soldiers through Normandy to hospitals in Britain,” Blackie said. Intrigued, I followed up on Blackie’s story by digging into the school archives. This led me down a marvelous journey through the life of a war hero who once walked our halls in service of students’ health. Some past Polymnians indicated that Evelyn’s time at NA lasted from 1968 to 1974, and an archive file dedicated to her contained two later West Essex Tribune newspaper clippings honoring her. 38
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Photos accompanying the articles show a young Evelyn circa 1944, a snapshot of her hand-in-hand with then-President George W. Bush, and a picture of her with the grand chancellor of France’s Legion of Honor and the president of the American Society of the French Legion of Honor. Curious to know more, I turned to the internet to uncover more about Nurse