Women on the Wall

Each year we visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in a war that was so far away.  So many of these young people were sent into a war that they did not understand, not as a volunteer, but as a conscripted soldier - chosen in a draft.  However, some that went to war volunteered. 

A few years ago as I stood at that wall, reading those names, the man standing beside me turned to me and asked if I knew how many women were on the wall.  I must admit, I had never thought about it.  He told me that there were seven.  I now know that there were seven Army nurses and one Air Force nurse.  

This man had been wounded in Vietnam and was cared for by 1st Lieutenant Sharon Lane at the 312th Evacuation Hospital.  This same hospital was later hit by rockets and Sharon Lane was killed.  He was at the wall, not only to remember her himself, but to make sure that others remember.  He pointed me in the direction of the Women's Vietnam Memorial, where I found a picture of Sharon Lane at the base, along with flowers and poems from the men that remembered their nurses. 

These women volunteered, along with 265,000 others.  Their compassion and caring was more than their fear of war.  Of those women that served in the military during this time, more than 10,000 were in the country of Vietnam.  While most of them were safe from the guns and rockets because of their nursing status, they were still in harm's way.  They died in hospitals that were hit anyway.  They died in planes and helicopters.  They died evacuating children.  ...and one died of a stroke at 52 after serving in World War II and Korea. 

As we remember the men on the wall, let us not forget those women who volunteered to go and the ones who gave their lives to serve.