Healing Wounds

A Vietnam War Combat Nurse's 10-Year Fight to Win Women a Place of Honor in Washington, D.C.

De: Diane Carlson Evans, Bob Welch - contributor, Joseph Galloway - foreword

Narrado por: Janet Metzger

What is the price of honor? It took 10 years for Vietnam War Nurse Diane Carlson Evans to answer that question - and the answer was a heavy one.

In 1983, when Evans came up with the vision for the first-ever memorial on the National Mall to honor women who'd worn a military uniform, she wouldn't be deterred. She remembered not only her sister veterans, but also the hundreds of young wounded men she had cared for, as she expressed during a Congressional hearing in Washington, DC: "Women didn't have to enter military service, but we stepped up to serve believing we belonged with our brothers-in-arms and now we belong with them at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. If they belong there, we belong there. We were there for them then. We mattered."

In the end, those wounded soldiers who had survived proved to be there for their sisters-in-arms, joining their fight for honor in Evans' journey of combating unforeseen bureaucratic obstacles and facing mean-spirited opposition. Her impassioned story of serving in Vietnam is a crucial backstory to her fight to honor the women she served beside. She details the gritty and high-intensity experience of being a nurse in the midst of combat and becomes an unlikely hero who ultimately serves her country again as a formidable force in her daunting quest for honor and justice.

©2020 Diane Carlson Evans (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Her perseverance

I listened to Kristen Hannah’s book The Women and was so touched I needed to read more. Obviously Diane Carlson shaped Hannah’s main character. This book was a testimony to so many women who served. I learned even more about the war. I think everyone would benefit from her story.

Excellent

For those of us that are children of Vietnam Vets, it’s fuzzy what our parents did. This book brought a lot of insight into what women went through and what the war and various protests were about. My father served. I would have liked to know his story but agent Orange killed him before I was adult enough to ask.

Fortitude

I was never wounded in Vietnam but I visited a lot of shot up guys. This story echoes what I saw but I never really felt their pain. To me nurses were just another MOS doing a job in the rear area. We all reflect on our experiences but they are a very special group. Without whom a lot more guys would not be here today. The memorial reflects that and they deserve a rightful place of honor

Impressive & Important

I was amazed as I read this story of Vietnam combat nurse Diane Carlson Evans. Her heroism as she cared for the soldiers during the war should be applauded, as well as the other nurses. Diane is humble, yet passionate as she recounts her experience during and after the unpopular Vietnam War. I found her detailed account very interesting and important, especially her unrelenting quest to establish a women of Vietnam statue to recognize their service. I hope many will read this book.

Diane’s story & commitment

The book reflects the importance & dedication of individuals to accomplish a goal. It tells the Vietnam story from a very personal basis shedding a small light on the heroic efforts of so many veterans. I applaud all who have help us heal.

Astonishing and Inspiring

I stumbled on this book after listening to "The Women" by Kristin Hannah. In the credits, Hanna thanked Diane Carlson Evans as a resource for the storyline. I was happy to find that Diane Carlson Evans had written her own true story about her experience as a nurse in Vietnam.

The story of life in Vietnam, serving our country, was only part of the story. Much of this book is about the sad reality of coming back to the US to encounter a deep divide, shunning, and outright cruelty. I am always amazed when we humans treat each other with such disdain. In the wake of these initial encounters, Carlson Evans stuffed her experience away, only to have it begin to resurface when she attended the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. The next 10 years took her on a journey of remarkable resilience as she worked to establish a monument on the National Mall, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, honoring the women who served in Vietnam.

My next trip to D.C. is coming soon. Although I previously walked the National Mall, I believe that I'll see it with new eyes as a result of hearing "Healing Wounds". Great listen!

One plucky Nurse

I have a great deal in common with this author. We are both from Minnesota, we are both nurses and we both were in the United States Army Nurse Corps the separation is that she served as a combat nurse during Vietnam . Her compelling story of working as a combat nurse, trying to deal with the post traumatic stress she suffered from that experience, and her struggle to work on getting the Vietnam women’s memorial up in Washington DC is quite the story. I highly recommend this book.

Heartbreaking AND inspiring

After reading the fictional“The Women” by Kristin Hannah, I was anxious to read the nonfiction work upon which it was based. It was surprising to me how much of Hannah’s book was taken directly from Diane Carlsen Evan’s experiences in Vietnam. After reading of these, it’s truly astounding that there was so much opposition to the women’s memorial - especially from male veterans. (The opposition from the cultural elite was not as surprising.) This is a wonderful story about an incredible woman whose service before and after the war is worthy of the highest military and civilian honors.

Thanks

You have brought back memories I had lost, good and bad. I laughed and I cried.
Many of your experiences mirrored my own, upon returning home. I moved to Canada because I wasn’t able to endure the lack of respect we Vietnam vets had earned.
Now I will visit the memorial.
Thanks to the ones who helped me and all the women who served. Thanks especially to you for helping me remember.

Inspiring

Perseverance and Ferocity! I have a better understanding and gratitude for my generation that served during the Vietnam War.