American Civilian and Military Women
Who Died in the Vietnam War (1959-1975)

Much more information is on the home page of 
The Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation


Military:

U.S. Army

Lieutenant Colonel Annie Ruth Graham, Chief Nurse at 91st Evacuation Hospital, Tuy Hoa.

 

Colonel Graham, from Efland, NC, suffered a stroke in August 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.

To Colonel Graham's memorial on The Virtual Wall

First Lieutenant Sharon Ann Lane

 
1LT Sharon Lane

Lieutenant Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evacuation Hospital at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Vietnam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.

To Lieutenant Lane's memorial on The Virtual Wall


 

Second Lieutenant Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba
Second Lieutenant Elizabeth Ann Jones

1LT Elizabeth Jones

Lieutenant Drazba and Lieutenant Jones were assigned to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. They died in a helicopter crash near Saigon, February 18, 1966. Drazba was from Dunmore, PA., Jones from Allendale, SC. Both were 22 years old.

Lieutenant Jones is pictured here.

To Lieutenant Jones's memorial page on The Virtual Wall

To Lieutenant Drazba's memorial page on The Virtual Wall


Captain Eleanor Grace Alexander

CPT Eleanor Alexander

Captain Alexander of Westwood, NJ and Lieutenant Orlowski of Detroit, MI died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evacuation Hospital and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evacuation Hospital, in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.

To Captain Alexander's memorial on The Virtual Wall


First Lieutenant Hedwig Diane Orlowski

1LT Hedwig Diane Orlowski

Captain Alexander of Westwood, NJ and Lieutenant Orlowski of Detroit, MI died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evacuation Hospital and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evacuation Hospital, in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.

To LT "Heddi" Orlowski's memorial on The Virtual Wall


Second Lieutenant Pamela Dorothy Donovan

1LT Pamela Donovan

Lieutenant Donovan, from Allston, MA, became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968. She was assigned to the 85th Evacuation Hospital in Qui Nhon. She was 26 years old.

To Lieutenant Donovan's memorial on The Virtual Wall




 

U.S. Air Force

Captain Mary Therese Klinker

Captain Klinker, a flight nurse assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans under Operation Babylift. From Lafayette, IN, Captain Klinker was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.



Civilian:

American Red Cross

ARC in Vietnam

Hannah E. Crews

Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, October 2, 1969.

Virginia E. Kirsch

Murdered by U.S. 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 in Pleiku, 1969.


Central Intelligence Agency

Betty Gebhardt

Died in Saigon, 1971.

Barbara Robbins

Died when a car bomb exploded outside the American Embassy, Saigon, March 30, 1965.


United States Agency for International Development

Dr. Breen Ratterman

Died in a fall from a balcony in Saigon, October 2, 1969.


Marilyn L. Allan

Murdered by a U.S. soldier in Nha Trang, August 16, 1967


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

Killed in a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968.

Janie A. Makil

Shot in an ambush, Dalat, March 4, 1963. Janie was five months old.

Ruth Thompson

Killed in a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, February 1, 1968.

Ruth Wilting

Killed in a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, February 1, 1968.


POW/MIA

Evelyn Anderson

Captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. 
Remains recovered and returned to U.S.

Beatrice Kosin

Captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. 
Remains recovered and returned to U.S.

Betty Ann Olsen

Captured during raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968. Died in 1968 and was buried somewhere along the Ho Chi Minh Trail by fellow POW, Michael Benge. Remains not recovered.

Eleanor Ardel Vietti

Captured at the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, May 30, 1962. Still listed as a POW.


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 U.S. 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 Services. She chose to stay on in Vietnam after the pullout of U.S. military forces in 1973.

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 Kauvulia
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

59 civilians
8 military
-- 
67 total American women


Sources: Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation (Military)
A Circle of Sisters/A Circle of Friends (Civilian).

Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation, 2001 S Street NW, Suite 302,
Washington, DC 20009 202-328-7253

A Circle of Sisters/A Circle of Friends is a coalition of women who served as civilians with various organizations in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It is a private, nonprofit, educational organization founded to create an archival collection documenting civilian service in war, and to honor the memory of the American civilian casualties of the Vietnam War. For more information contact Circle Of Sisters, 1015 South Gaylord, Suite 190, Denver,CO. 80209, 303-575-1311.

Revised November, 1999. This list is subject to correction and addition as further information becomes known.

Listing provided by Ann Kelsey, Army Special Services, Library Branch, Cam Ranh Bay, 1969-70


Send comments and questions to Ann Kelsey


Some other web page about Women in Vietnam:

Marilyn's web page about women in Vietnam
Family Contacts
The Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation

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