During the Vietnam War, American women served in numbers and under conditions that shattered the old image of the military as an exclusively male domain. More than 265,000 women served in the U.S. armed forces during the era. Roughly 7,500 to 11,000 were stationed in Vietnam itself; about 90 percent were nurses, nearly all volunteers. They worked in evacuation hospitals, on hospital ships, and at air bases where the distinction between rear and front evaporated under guerrilla warfare and rocket attacks.

Army Nurse Corps members arrived as early as 1956 to train South Vietnamese nurses. As the American presence grew, so did theirs. From 1962 to 1973, roughly 5,000 Army nurses served in-country, joined by Navy and Air Force nurses and smaller numbers of women in intelligence, administration, air traffic control, and other support roles. Civilian American women also deployed with the Red Cross, USO, and relief agencies. They treated massive casualty loads like amputations, chest wounds, and burns, often under continuous threat. Helicopter medical evacuation brought the wounded faster than in previous wars, but it also placed nurses within range of enemy fire. Many women later reported the invisible wounds of prolonged exposure to trauma.

Eight American servicewomen died in Vietnam, all nurses: seven from the Army and one from the Air Force. Their names appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial: 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Drazba, 2nd Lt. Elizabeth A. Jones, Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander, 2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan, Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham, 1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane, 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski, Capt. Mary Therese Klinker.

First Lieutenant Sharon Ann Lane (First Lieutenant, 67th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade) is the only one killed by direct enemy action, a rocket attack on the 312th Evacuation Hospital in Chu Lai in June 1969. The others died in helicopter and aircraft crashes or from illness. An additional 59 American civilian women were killed. Precise figures for wounded servicewomen are harder to pin down; contemporary........

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