Nurse of the Week Hollyanne Milley Honored Veterans Day by Saving a Vet's Life

Nurse of the Week Hollyanne Milley was in the right place at the right time on Veterans Day! For Milley, who is married to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, attendance at the Arlington National Cemetery annual wreath laying ceremony is routine, but the tradition was disrupted this year when a veteran collapsed and lost conciousness.

Fortunately, Milley is a veteran of sorts herself, having worked for over 30 years in the nursing profession. Her 18 years in critical care and 15 years as a cardiac care nurse have accustomed her to taking prompt action, and she immediately attended to the fallen old soldier. While she and her husband were waiting for the President and Vice President to arrive, she heard the vet fall to the ground and ran over to help. “There were just a few people around him. He was not responsive and couldn’t speak, and he had very labored breathing that was not actually moving air into his lungs,” she told CNN later. Milley instructed someone to call 911 and set to work. Unable to find the vet’s pulse, she performed two cycles of CPR chest compressions. “He took a big spontaneous breath and a big groan on his own, and he started moving air,” she recalls. “After a few breaths, he started coming around.”

The stricken veteran wishes to remain anonymous, but he did not hesitate to thank Milley for reviving him. The former nurse told CNN, “He is grateful that he will be here next year to honor those who served, and said, ‘Because a bystander knew CPR, that’s why I’ll be able to continue honoring our veterans for many years to come.” Milley’s husband, General Mark Milley said that his wife is “representative of the hero medical professionals who are always there when we need them. She represents the strength and service of our military families.”

Click here to see the CNN story on Hollyanne Milley’s eventful Veterans Day.

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Koren Thomas

Associate Editor at DailyNurse

Koren Thomas (pictured with Assistant) was the associate editor of DailyNurse from late 2019 through July, 2022—and she was not joking about the "issue postage stamps saluting US nurses" idea. Send your article ideas, submissions, Nurse of the Week suggestions, comments, and corrections to the current Editor in Chief at [email protected].