Where are the Vietnam Nurses?

[snowtiger]

I was watching TV tonight and there's a special on WE that is going to talk about the Vietnam nurses. It's on Thursday at 9:00 or 10:00. That got me to thinking....Why doesn't all these movies show the nurses and what they went through?? My boyfriend tells me that there were a lot of nurses killed over there. A lot went through the same emotional stress that the recruits did. WHY isn't there stories portrayed also??? If there are any out there, I want to just say thanks to you also. I'm also very sorry that nobody seems to feel that you are not worthy to put up on plaques or in the movies!! My boyfriend tells me that even during combat, they tried to remain cheerful and upbeat. If anyone else knows of a vietnam nurse, please share your story!! Thank you.

[lone wolf]

If I remember correctly, a few presidents back, some of the nurses that served in Vietnam were honored by the president. I also think that there was talk about creating a memorial as well. Now I'm not 100 percent positive about this, but you might check it out.

[snowtiger]

I was wrong, they do have plaques and memorials for the nurses. Did anyone watch the special last night? It's on again today.

[ynotamerican]

Women on the Wall
Take this with you on your visit to the Wall and remember that women served too. These names are in order as you walk along the Wall away from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument
2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan - On the Wall at 53W 043
Lt. Donovan, from Allston, MA, became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968. She was assigned to the 85th Evac. in Qui Nhon. She was 26 years old.
Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham - On the Wall at 48W 012
Chief Nurse at 91st Evac. Hospital, Tuy Hoa. From Efland, NC, she suffered a stroke in August 14, 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.
1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane - On the Wall at 23W 112
Lt. Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evac. at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Viet Nam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.
Capt. Mary Therese Klinker - On the Wall at 01W 122
Capt. Klinker, a flight nurse assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans. This is known as the Operation Babylift crash. From Lafayette, IN, she was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.
2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba - On the Wall at 05E 046
2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones - On the Wall at 05E 047
Lt. Drazba and Lt. Jones were assigned to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. They died in a helicopter crash near Saigon, February 18, 1966. Drazba was from Dunmore, PA, Jones from Allendale, SC. Both were 22 years old.
Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander - On the Wall at 31E 008
1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski - On the Wall at 31E 015
Capt. Alexander of Westwood, NJ, and Lt. Orlowski of Detroit, MI, died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evac., and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evac. in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI, and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.
Courtesy of www.WomenInVietnam.com

You can visit this site to read about and see a wonderful memorial to the women that served in Vietnam.
The site is: http://www.nps.gov/vive/memorial/women.htm