Memorial Day has passed, but a Vietnam veteran who passed away on May 20 needs to be remembered.

Diane Carlson Evans was a combat nurse, and much more. She told her story with the help of Bob Welch in the 2020 book “Healing Wounds: A Vietnam War Combat Nurse’s 10-Year Fight to Win Women a Place of Honor in Washington, D.C.”

But it was her work with author Kristin Hannah on Hannah’s 2024 novel “The Women” that people learned the story of the women who served in Vietnam.

We have memorials for those who served, but not all who served. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall has eight women’s names, but not until Nov. 11, 1993, was there a memorial dedicated to women’s service in the war. It took Diane 10 years to get a memorial for the women who served. We remembered the men who served and died, but why the government did not want a memorial to the women made no sense.

Women have played an equal role in all wars, but this country was not ready to acknowledge them, not until Diane came along and fought for them.

With her passing, Diane Carlson Evans leaves a legacy of fighting to remember the women who served. One last thought — if you visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall or the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, take the time to learn about them. Don’t just say you visited, learn the reason why we have them.

Steven E. Hunnicutt
Eugene