American Women Vets

Today (March 29^th) is Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day.

This is the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington DC.

It was dedicated in 1993 to honor the 250,000 American Women who served in the US Military during the Vietnam War (1965-1973) many serving nearby in Guam, Japan, the Philippines and on Military Ships.

11,000 of those Women Volunteered to serve inside South Vietnam itself as Nurses, Air Traffic Controllers, Communication Specialists and Intelligence Officers.

Since 1967 American Women became eligible to become Generals in the US Military.

Since 1972 American Women were allowed to Command Units with Men in them.

Many American Women inside South Vietnam worked as Nurses.

Working conditions as a Nurse were often hard, with many Nurses working a minimum of 12 hours a day, six days a week, in Field Hospitals that had little air conditioning.

Responsibilities included Massive Causality Situations involving Amputations, Wounds, and Chest Tubes for their Patients.

They also dealt with bombings and attacks.

98% of the Wounded American Soldiers that made it to an American Hospital inside South Vietnam survived thanks in large part to the Nurses.

8 American Servicewomen, all of whom were Nurses (7 Army Nurses and 1 Air Force Nurse), died during the War.

(1st. Lt. Hedwig Orlowski, 2nd Lt. Carol Drazba, 1st. Lt. Sharon Lane, Capt. Mary Klinker, Capt. Eleanor Alexander, 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Jones, 2nd Lt. Pamela Donovan, LTC Annie Graham.)

Those 8 W omen’s Names (Eleanor Grace Alexander, Pamela Dorothy Donovan, Carol Ann Drazba, Annie Ruth Graham, Elizabeth Ann Jones, Mary Therese Klinker, Sharon Ann Lane, and Hedwig Diane Orlowski are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington DC.

59 American Women who served as Civilians (including Nurses) in South Vietnam were also killed and died in the War.

4 American Women became POWS of the North Vietnamese Communists.

In 1962 Eleanor Ardel Vietti became America’s First Woman POW in Vietnam.

(Eleanor Ardel Vietti)

Vietti was a Physician and Missionary who worked at the Buôn Ma Thuột Leper Colony in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam.

On May 20, 1962 she was kidnapped by the Viet Cong and made to work in their Hospitals.

She was reported still alive in 1968, but still held captive by the Communists.

By the 1970s no word was heard about her ever again.

She is currently the only American Woman unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

In addition to the U.S. Military Women who served in South Vietnam, an unknown number of Female Civilians willingly gave their services inside South Vietnam during the War,

Many of them worked on behalf of the American Red Cross, Army Special Services, United Service Organizations (USO), Peace Corps and various Religious Groups such as Catholic Relief Services.