Page 34 - Stand Down Vietnam

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation estimates that
approximately 11,000 military women were stationed in
Vietnam during the conflict. Every woman who served
was a volunteer. They put their lives on hold and
risked their own lives to care for our nation’s wounded
and dying. During the war, 8 American nurses were
killed.

“I’ve been through war’s hell and if only you will
listen, I have a story of those chosen to sacrifice for
us all.

Wounds weren’t visible, but their suffering was acute
and there wouldn’t be any purple hearts passed out for
their near-death experience. All I could think about
was they had been stranded out there without food,
without water….”

First Lieutenant Diane Carlson
Vietnam War Combat Nurse
71 Evacuation Hospital
st
Pleiku, Vietnam
1969

Diane Carlson Evans led the effort to build the
Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C.