Lillian G. Carty is the September 2025 Kosciusko County Veteran of the Month. Pictured, left to right, are Kosciusko County Veteran Service Officer Darryl McDowell, County Commissioners Cary Groninger and Bob Conley; Lillian G. Carty and her son, Chad Carty; and County Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — After her brother was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, Lillian G. Carty joined the U.S. Army Nursing Corps. in hopes of helping him.

While that, of course, didn’t happen, she helped many other servicemen.

On Tuesday, Sept. 9, she was recognized by the Kosciusko County Commissioners as the September 2025 Kosciusko County Veteran of the Month for her life of service, strength and dedication.

In presenting Carty to the commissioners, Veteran Service Officer Darryl McDowell said she was born in 1941 in Georgetown, Ill., to Harry and Ruby Freeman. She grew up in a close-knit family as one of five siblings. She had two brothers and two sisters. After graduating from Turkey High School, she pursued her passion for caregiving at St. Elizabeth School of Nursing, setting the stage for a remarkable career in service to others, McDowell said.

On Aug. 27, 1966, Carty joined the U.S. Army Nursing Corps., marking the beginning of her military career with basic training at Fort Sam Houston, Tex. She was later stationed at Letterman General Hospital in Presidio, San Francisco, Calif., where she served before being deployed to Vietnam.

“There, she provided critical care to servicemen assigned to the 85th Evacuation Hospital, initially stationed in Qui Nhom and later Phu Bai, navigating the challenges of a combat zone with unwavering courage and compassion,” McDowell stated.

Carty completed her service at Fort Sill, Okla., and was honorably discharged in 1969 with the rank of captain. Her distinguished service earned her several commendations, including the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

“Returning to civilian life, Lillian continued her commitment to healing by working as a registered nurse in Marion and Montgomery Counties, eventually settling into a long-term and impactful career at Kosciusko Hospital, where she remained until her retirement in 2003,” McDowell said.

In November 1970, she married Jack Carty, and they raised seven children together.

McDowell stated, “Her legacy of love and resilience lives on through her 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.”

Now retired in Warsaw, she remains a “shining example of dedication, service and strength. We honor her not only for her military contributions, but for a lifetime of care and community,” McDowell concluded.

After being presented with a framed certificate, Carty said, “I was in a job in Arizona and the Vietnam War broke out, and my brother was drafted and it was a time when men were drafted. They had no say and he was 18, and we were a close-knit family.”

Her father thought her brother, who was the baby brother, would be killed in the war.

“So I decided I would go in the service to help him. That doesn’t work out,” she stated. “But, anyway, that’s why I went into the service, but I gained a lot of knowledge in the service. I did things that I never thought I would have done had I not gone into the service – procedures and just taking care of men who were injured badly in Vietnam.”

After she got out of the service, Carty worked in Indianapolis. Three years later, she married Jack and then seven years later they moved to Kosciusko County because of Jack’s job transfer with Public Access North.

“Then I worked as a nurse, labor delivery, until my last 14 years, then I worked in hospice here in Kosciusko County,” she stated.

While it was a change going from treating wounded men to helping deliver babies, she said both were rewarding experiences.