New York XXVIII

I have written before about my nearly 50 year search for my buddy John and how he took me to the memorial in his home town.

I read recently the the memorial celebrated its 50th anniversary not too long ago, so I decided to have another look and realized that I had not featured the women's memorial at the site. 

It is not specifically Vietnam, but it is part of the larger memorial so I decided to see of I could pull the women's faces from it to share here.

Its not surprising that this process met with somewhat mixed results.

All that aside, however, I wish to, once again, honor the women who served with us.

United States Army

United States Marine Corp

United States Air Force

United States Coast Guard

United States Navy

I write on occasion that beyond the eight women listed on The Wall, some 56 other American women were killed while serving in some capacity in 'Nam. they were civilians all attempting to better the situation and lives of those affected by the war. You can read more about them here. they, too, are heroes, all. Check them out and be thankful that such people exist.

Next time, on the 29th, we will take another look at North Carolina. So, join me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from New York, or any other state, please click in the state name on the left side of this page.

I will ask, as I do at the end of nearly every post now, for anyone who has pictures of Vietnam memorials not seen here to please send them to me. I will give you full photo credit for the pic and any information about it you may know. Check your state, or anywhere you may have visited, from the list at the left, or any place else. Please send them to the email at the left or directly to me at Ldddad@comcast.net. Thanks!

New Jersey XXXI

The memorial in Homdel, New Jersey is one of the very first that I ever visited. It was July of 2009, so, very early in this project.

It surprises me a little that it has taken this long to post the faces, but glad, during this drought of travel and new memorials, to have come upon them.

The faces are of a fallen soldier, his buddy, and a nurse tending to him. You can see a full photo of the memorial here.

The pictures, as always, fascinate me, the ability of the artist to capture the feelings  in the faces is remarkable and, so often, heartrending.

No less the case here. 

The nurse's calm concern is evident and one must wonder about all that she has seen. A reminder that 8 nurses are listed and honored on The Wall, but thousands more carry the weight of their service to those of us who were aided by them. I don't think they get nearly enough credit of thanks.

The friend: concern and compassion for his buddy evident, mixed perhaps with some resignation.

The warrior, his pain and fear are palpable, his future, unknown.

I have posted something similar to this post previously, but was not focusing upon the faces, so today, I hope I honor them.

Next time, on the 9th, we will return to New Mexico, so meet me there at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from New Jersey, or any other state, please click on the state name on the left side of this page.

Women in service to vietnam

 

This is a repost of March 25, 2022 regarding the brave and mostly unknown service and sacrifice of American women in Vietnam. For reasons I can't figure out it refuses to post in a readable way so I am re-posting in the hopes that this version is readable and these brave and selfless women are granted just a little of the respect they so deserve.

Something about the photos I used are messing up the posting, so, for now I have removed them and if I get the problem corrected, I will re-post. For now, the following is the text of that post

So, as always, I was looking for something to write about this time. As I have stated a number of times here that until I can get comfortable with the idea of setting foot in an airport, I continue to search files for something of interest.

As we are coming to the end of "Women's month" I wanted to post this face from a memorial in Monroe, Michigan.

 

This got me thinking about how few women are featured in Vietnam memorials. Admittedly most memorials do not have statues at all, men or women, but the number of women is absolutely dwarfed in comparison to men. And, the few that are featured are always nurses. 

The one above is the exception, she is dressed in flight gear.

So, I thought that I might feature a few of the other women's tributes that I have seen.

But, here, is something I have not seen before, 20,000 civilian women that served in 'Nam and remind us, again, of their patriotism and sacrifice, especially the 56 who were lost, in addition to the 8 nurses listed on The Wall.I have spoken of these women in the past, but they deserve another salute,as we deserve another reminder.  The following information was found at Vietnam Reflections, check them out at

American Red Cross

Hannah E. Crews Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, October 2,1969.
Virginia E. Kirsch Murdered by US soldier in Cu Chi, August 16, 1970.
Lucinda J. Richter Died of Guillain-Barre syndrome, Cam Ranh Bay, February 9, 1971.

Army Special Services

Rosalyn Muskat Died in a jeep accident, Long Binh, 1968.
Dorothy Phillips Died in a plane crash, Qui Nhon, 1967.

Catholic Relief Services

Gloria Redlin Shot to death in Pleiku, l969.

Central Intelligence Agency

Barbara Robbins Died when a bomb exploded in front of the American Embassy, Saigon, March 30, 1965.
Betty Gebhardt Died in Saigon, 1971.

United States Agency for International Development

Marilyn L. Allen Murdered by US soldier in Nha Trang, August 16, 1967.
Dr. Breen Ratterman Died in a fall from a balcony in Saigon, October 2, 1969.

United States Department of the Navy OICC (Officer in Charge of Construction)

Regina "Reggie" Williams Died of a heart attack in Saigon, 1964.

Journalists

Georgette "Dickey" Chappelle Killed by a mine on patrol with Marines outside Chu Lai, November 4, 1965.
Phillipa Schuyler Killed in a firefight, Da Nang, May 9, 1966.

Missionaries

Carolyn Griswald * Ruth Thompson * Ruth Wilting: All 3 killed in raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet February 1, 1968.
Betty Ann Olsen Captured during raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 68. Died in 1968 and was buried somewhere along Ho Chi Minh Trail by fellow POW, Michael Benge. Remains not recovered.
Eleanor Ardel Vietti Captured at leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, May 30, 1962. Still listed as POW.
Janie A. Makil Shot to death in an ambush, Dalat, March 4, 1963. Janie was 5 months old.
Evelyn Anderson * Beatrice Kosin Both captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to US.

Operation Babylift

The following women were killed in the crash, outside Saigon, of the C5-A Galaxy transporting Vietnamese children out of the country on April 4, 1975. All of the women were working for various US government agencies in Saigon at the time of their deaths with the exception of Theresa Drye (a child) and Laurie Stark (a teacher). Sharon Wesley had previously worked for both the American Red Cross and Army Special Service. She chose to stay on in Vietnam after the pullout of US military forces in 1973. (Source: August 13, 2000 The Baltimore Sun)

Barbara Adams * Clara Bayot * Nova Bell * Arleta Bertwell * Helen Blackburn * Ann Bottorff * Celeste Brown * Vivienne Clark * Juanita Creel * Mary Ann Crouch * Dorothy Curtiss * Twila Donelson * Helen Drye * Theresa Drye * Mary Lyn Eichen * Elizabeth Fugino * Ruthanne Gasper * Beverly Herbert * Penelope Hindman * Vera Hollibaugh * Dorothy Howard * Barbara Maier * Rebecca Martin * Sara Martini * Martha Middlebrook * Katherine Moore * Marta Moschkin * Marion Polgrean * June Poulton * Joan Pray * Sayonna Randall * Anne Reynolds * Marjorie Snow * Laurie Stark * Barbara Stout * Doris Jean Watkins * Sharon Wesley

Only eight women are remembered on The Wall, but these brave women, too, must never be forgotten.

Next time, on the 30th, we will return to Montana, so join me there at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Michigan, or any other state, please click the state name on the left side of this page.