In April 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commemorative Plaque, also known as the In Memory Plaque, to be added to the three-acre Memorial site on the National Mall. The plaque is intended to honor those Vietnam veterans who died after service in Vietnam, but as a direct result of that service, and whose names are not eligible for placement on the Memorial because of Department of Defense policies. The 24-inches tall by 36-inches wide plaque is a simple granite stone placed within the northeast corner of the Three Servicemen Statue Plaza. It was dedicated on November 10, 2004. The inscription reads: ‘In memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. We honor and remember their sacrifice.’

Reading of the Names - At 7 AM volunteers start the reading of names of the women who have died during and since the Vietnam War known to the Foundation. The names of military women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan will also be read. Storytelling at the Vietnam Women's Memorial: In Their Own Words - Throughout the day, speakers at the Memorial will tell their stories. Some will be women telling their stories, others will be male veterans and families telling of the extraordinary impact the women had on them.

Marsha Four, an Army nurse in Vietnam and the long-time chair of the VVA Women Veterans Committee, summed up the feelings of many who visited Washington, D.C., on Veterans Day 2008. “When I think about ‘the good old days’ as far as the military is concerned,” she said, “I think about that one year of my life I spent with people who were also part of a very dramatic experience, one that will stay with me until the day I die.”

This wreath is to honor four women who served as American Red Cross Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas workers in Vietnam. Our job would be more accurately describe as ‘Field Morale Workers’ because we spent our days traveling to the forward areas to talk with, laugh with, and listen to American servicemen who loved to talk about home and to laugh for a few minutes with American women who, for many different reasons, choose to be in Vietnam with them instead of home where we’d be ‘safe’. Hannah Crews died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, October 2, 1969. Virginia Kirsch murdered by a U.S. soldier in Cu Chi, August 18, 1970. Lucinda Richter died of Guillain-Barre syndrome, Cam Ranh Bay, February 9, 1971. Sharon Wesley died in ‘Operation Baby Lift’ near Saigon, April 4, 1975. Their names are not on ‘the Wall’ because we were civilians . . . technically. For myself, it was very difficult to feel like a civilian when I came home because my tour in Vietnam had changed me forever. With ‘our guys,’ we had shared a time together of intense sorrow (although we had almost never cried in Nam), intense laughter, and intense LIFE. Today, and every day, we acknowledge the loss of our sister ‘Donut Dollies’ and reaffirm that we will never forget them . . . NEVER!

Native American Flute and Cedar Blessing

In Memory of Roz Musket who went to War too . . . as one of 59 civilian women who served and died in Vietnam.

‘Only Eight’. There are over 58,000 names on ‘The Wall’. Of women there are ‘Only Eight’. You need to understand though that these ladies were Great. Thousands of women served in Vietnam. We owe a large debt to them all, but thank God it was ‘Only Eight’, that heard your final call. There are over 58,000 names on ‘The Wall’ and the ‘Only Eight’ names that could get lost. I want to pay tribute to them here, Because they too paid the ultimate cost. Rest In Peace Ladies. You are not Forgotten. - Judy Gorman King

American Red Cross Donut Dollies – December 1968 – South China Beach, Cam Ranh Air Base, Vietnam – This photo was used on the ‘China Beach’ music album. Mary ( Tsinnajinnie ) Coho, Ann ( Copeland ) Young, Eugenia ( Nixon ) Fulkerson, Candi Fennell, Kay ( Brownfield ) Trendall, Nancy ( Swank ) Pratt, Julie ( Pence ) VanMetre, Larry ( Young ) Hines.

JOB DESCRIPTION: DONUT DOLLIE - I flew to desolate fire bases filled with the tools of war and the men who used them, it was my job to perform the miracle of making the war disappear (however briefly) for boys who had been trained to kill, it was my mission to raise the morale of children who had grown old too soon watching friends die, it was my calling to take away fear and replace it with hope to return sanity to a world gone insane, i was the mistress of illusion as i pulled smiles from the dust and heat the magical genie of back-in-the-world as i created laughter in the mud, but when the show was over i crawled back into my bottle and pulled the cork in tightly behind me, Emily Strange ©1992

Storytelling at the Vietnam Women's Memorial: In Their Own Words - Throughout the day, speakers at the Memorial will tell their stories. Some will be women telling their stories, others will be male veterans and families telling of the extraordinary impact the women had on them.

Eleanor G. Alexander, Pamela D. Donovon, Carol A. E. Drazba, Annie Ruth Graham, Elizabeth A. Jones, Mary T. Klinker, Sharon Ann Lane, Hedwig D. Orlowski.