On 30 May 2026, the WaPo published the obit of Diane Carlson Evans, a former Army nurse that spent years championing military women, especially getting recognition for those 11,000 that served in country in Vietnam. She died of a rare cancer linked to Agent Orange. I provide the link below to the lengthy unedited WaPo obit for those wanting to read it in its entirety but here is enough to get the flavor of the article:
Obituaries
Army veteran behind the
Vietnam Women’s Memorial dies at 79
By Harrison Smith
30 May 2026
“’It was a simple idea,’ Diane Carlson Evans recalled, marveling at how a project that should have taken no more than two years, in her estimation, required nearly a decade of speech-making and fundraising and grassroots campaigning — an all-out effort to win over hostile bureaucrats and a skeptical, indifferent public.”
“Yet when the Vietnam Women’s Memorial was finally unveiled in 1993, dedicated on the National Mall in a Veterans Day ceremony that drew 25,000 people, the effort it took to get there no longer seemed to matter. “
“Ms. Carlson Evans, a former Army nurse and Vietnam War veteran, had envisioned the memorial as a way to correct a long-running injustice. Before it was built, there was no national memorial for female veterans. Women in the military, she said, had been ‘largely invisible,’ absent from news broadcasts and memorial statues that highlighted scenes of male heroism but seldom showed the contributions of their female counterparts”
“Some 265,000 women had served in uniform during the Vietnam War, with 11,000 stationed in Vietnam itself. The vast majority worked as nurses, comforting severely burned and wounded soldiers in their last moments and urging others on to life.”
“…. some veterans complained that the Wall, designed by architect Maya Lin, was too stark and somber. To appease critics, a bronze statue of three soldiers was added to the site in 1984. As Ms. Carlson Evans saw it, the new statue was unnecessary and, with its lack of female service members, misleading. ‘I thought of all the women I had served with, and what they went through, especially in the emergency room, and doing triage,’ she said. ‘And I was beginning to realize the country really didn’t know we were there.’”
“For
Ms. Carlson Evans, the memorial offered a chance to recognize the women she had
befriended and worked alongside in Vietnam. It also served as a milestone on
her own years-long journey to confront the nightmares of Vung Tau ….”
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Here is what the Old Colonel provided in the Comments section of the obit after considering Servicewomen comprised only .004074 of the Servicemembers that served in country and .0001374 of the fatal casualties:
"Not
to diminish the service of the approximately 11,000 Service women that were
among the 2,700,000 total Servicemembers that served in country during the
Vietnam War, but believe they have been more than adequately recognized at the
Vietnam Memorial Wall. Although there are 58,320 names on the Wall, the
official DOD number of VN War fatal casualties is 58,220 including eight (8)
women, all nurses (1- Rocket attack, 2-medical & 5 aircraft accidents). In
addition to the names on the Wall honoring all of the 58,220 fallen, there are
two sculptures in the proximity of the Wall featuring four (4) Servicemen and
three (3) Servicewomen. One sculpture has three (3) Servicemen and the other
one has three (3) Servicewomen, all nurses, tending to one (1) wounded
Serviceman. My point is I believe we Vietnam Vets have already gone above and
beyond to recognize the contributions of Servicewomen during Vietnam. BTW, I
was a high school grad draftee in early 1967 that went to Vietnam as a new 2LT
out of OCS and extended in country to come home a decorated CPT with a CIB, so
I’ve earned the right to comment here."
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By
the way concerning the horrors
of Vũng Tàu, I was only there once for a couple of hours for
refueling our Huey and get something to eat flying up to Gia Dinh but after
seeing it seriously considered going AWOL and staying. During the Vietnam
War, Vũng Tàu was a crucial port, logistical hub, and popular beach resort.
Located about 45 miles southeast of Saigon, it was used extensively by US and
Allied forces as a major entry point for troops and supplies, a base of
operations, and a primary in country
R&R Center. Because of its scenic coastal beaches and resort history,
it offered Allied servicemen a temporary oasis from the brutality of the war.
Troops frequented its bars, cafes, and beaches to cool off and decompress.
