Patricia Lough O'Daly was born on 18 August 1954. She enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1974 and spent five years in the military as a jet engine mechanic. She left the service in 1980 to enter Smith College under the Ada Comstock program (for non-traditional age students), and she received her B.A with a major in anthropology in 1984. While at Smith, O'Daly undertook a research project about the experiences of women veterans of the Vietnam War. The product, a thesis-length Smith Scholar project entitled "Survivors: Women in Uniform during the Vietnam War," drew upon historical research and oral histories with women veterans to analyze the distinctiveness of their experiences and their alienation from military services and a culture designed for male soldiers. While at Smith, she also began work to raise the visibility of female veterans.
In the politicized context of both the women's movement and efforts among Vietnam veterans to confront the overlooked legacy of post-traumatic stress and Agent Orange, O'Daly's projects dovetailed with other efforts to create support networks and policy advocacy for female veterans. To that end, she established an East Coast branch of the Oakland, California Women Veterans' Information Network (WVIN), which continued a fledgling western Massachusetts effort, Athena. She also served on the Women's Steering Committee of the Vietnam Veterans of America and acted as consultant for women's issues at the Springfield (Massachusetts) Vet Center and on the Massachusetts Special Commission on the Concerns of Vietnam Veterans.
No further biographical information is available at this time.
From the guide to the P. Lough O'Daly Papers MS 444., 1944-1984, (Sophia Smith Collection)
