EHS 1967 Armed Forces Tribute

Armed Forces Tribute

Related Sites

Faces From the Wall - http://facesfromthewall.com/ffwsnoh3.html. A pictorial summary of Snohomish County soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam.
The Wall USA - http://thewall-usa.com/. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Page. A private tribute supported entirely through contributions to the 4/9 Infantry Manchu (Vietnam) Associa-tion, a non-profit veterans organization.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - http://www.nps.gov/vive/index.htm. The official Vietnam Veterans Memorial website, hosted by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Hometown Warriors - http://snohomishhistory.com/wwii/evwwii01.html. An amazing collection of research compiled from the Everett Herald by the "Book Lady," Darilee Bednar (EHS 1965), owner of Third St. Books in downtown Marysville, WA.

	Vietnam Women's Memorial
Statue of the Three Soldiers	Vietnam Women's Memorial
The Three Soldiers statue - also known as The Three Servicemen - is the result of the controversy surrounding Maya Ying Lin's design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In stark simplicity, The Wall presents the names of 58,178 fallen U.S. soldiers on its polished stone surface. Some veterans and their political supporters felt The Wall was "a black gash of shame" or a "giant tombstone." It was too abstract a design for others who wanted a more heroic, life-like depiction of a soldier. Located a short distance away from the Wall, the statue was added in 1984 as a more traditional component to the Vietnam Memorial, two years after The Wall's completion. Designed by the late Frederick Hart, it depicts three servicemen, identifiable as Caucasian, African-American, and Hispanic. The men are wearing Vietnam War era uniforms and could be from any branch of the U.S. military at that time. Interpretations of the work vary widely. Some say the troops have the "thousand yard stare" of combat soldiers. Others say the troops are on patrol and begin looking for their own names as they come upon the Memorial Wall. Hart's goal was to create a sculpture which was a moving evocation of the experience and service of the Vietnam veteran. He described it as follows: "The portrayal of the figures is consistent with history. They wear the uniform and carry the equipment of war; they are young. The contrast between the innocence of their youth and the weapons of war underscores the poignancy of their sacrifice. There is about them the physical contact and sense of unity that bespeaks the bonds of love and sacrifice that is the nature of men at war. And yet they are each alone. Their strength and their vulnerability are both evident. Their true heroism lies in these bonds of loyalty in the face of their aloneness and their vulnerability."	When Diane Carlson Evans, a former army nurse in Vietnam, first saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, she felt something was missing. Her efforts to highlight the service of women in Vietnam were rewarded on November 11, 1993, when the Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated. The sculpture, designed by Texas native Glenna Goodacre, depicts three uniformed women with a wounded soldier. While one nurse comforts the soldier, another kneels in thought or prayer. The third looks to the skies - for help from a medevac helicopter, or perhaps from a higher power. Goodacre left the interpretation open so people could read into it whatever they wished. An estimated 11,500 women served our country in Vietnam, ninety percent of whom served in the health care professions, nursing and tending to the casualties of war. The women's war was different from the men's - instead of exploding in the jungle, it blew up in the mind. Surrounded by death, the nurses had to shut down emotionally. They could not show their feelings to the soldiers they were trying to heal. Like the Vietnam Wall, the Vietnam Women's Memorial has brought healing. Nurses spoke of the horror of war and the difficulty of talking to their friends about what they had seen. One said that in only a year, she had left behind her youth and her innocence. Soldiers remembered the nurses with love and affection - the kind smile, the gentle touch, the soft words that eased their pain. Parents spoke with gratitude of the nurses who had sent their sons home to them. The difficult and heartrending nature of their role in Vietnam is the focus of the Vietnam Women's Memorial. Planted around the Plaza are eight trees, commemorating each of the women who died in Vietnam.