Vietnam Women’s Memorial

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial is dedicated to the women of the United States who served in the Vietnam War.

Most of them were nurses. All of them were angels.

The memorial is a reminder of the value and importance of these exceptional women in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Women’s Memorial depicts three uniformed women with a wounded soldier. It is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial is a short distance south of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial – “The Wall” – north of the Reflecting Pool, located on National Mall in Washington D.C.

Diane Carlson Evans, RN, a former U.S. Army nurse, founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project (now the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation) in 1984.

The monument was designed by American sculptor, Glenna Goodacre (1939 – 2020), The memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 1993.

Veterans Day is a federal holiday in the United States, observed annually on November 11, to honor military veterans.

Glenna Goodacre’s bronze sculptures feature powerful emotional expression and strong texture.

Her art appears in public, private, municipal, and museum collections throughout the United States. Glenna Goodacre has won many awards, and has received honorary doctorates from Colorado College, her alma mater, and Texas Tech University, in her hometown of Lubbock, Texas.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. is Glenna Goodacre’s most well known work. There is a smaller replica at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park in Angel Fire, New Mexico.

Glenna Goodacre is the designer of the obverse of the Sacagawea dollar that entered circulation in the United States in 2000.

A long time ago (1969-1970), I was an advisor in the Navy of the Republic of Vietnam.

For part of my time in Vietnam, I served with a Khmer (Cambodian) woman, who was the nurse of Duyen Đoan Hai Muoui Lam (Coastal Group 25) of the Vietnamese Navy.

She and I served together with the sailors of Coastal Group 25. She was the only woman I ever knew who was a member of the Vietnamese Armed Forces.

To me, she is Seyha, which means “Lion” in the Khmer language. Seyha was mother lion to the Vietnamese sailors of Coastal Group 25.

Seyha, the Lion, know for sure, that I especially admire and honor you. I do not know where you are today, but you are in my thoughts, and in my heart, and in my conversations with the Maker of All Things.

Whenever I think of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C., you are in my thoughts, right alongside those three marvelous American nurses of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

You are the fourth one, unseen by everyone but me.

Of all the languages of earth, there is no word big enough to contain the true worth of the men and women with whom I was privileged to serve in Vietnam. The best I can manage, these many years later, is to remember each one of you.

You are warrior men and women, everyone.

I feel your presence in the gift of quiet moments, without distraction. I hold you in soft focus, with the most profound honor that my heart and mind can contain.

Thank you for being my friends in harm’s way.