Legionnaire Diane Carlson Evans featured in PBS tribute on May 30.
American Legion member Diane Carlson Evans, author of “Healing Wounds: A Vietnam War Combat Nurse’s 10-Year Fight to Win Women a Place of Honor in Washington, D.C.,” is featured in the televised and live-streamed PBS presentation of the National Memorial Day Concert May 30, 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The concert, which was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19, has been pre-recorded for airing on Memorial Day. Featured stories in the program include a tribute to Vietnam War nurses; the story of the 2nd Rangers of the Korean War, the Army’s only all-Black Ranger company; and reflections on the 20 years that have passed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Viewers are urged to check their local PBS listings for airing in different time zones. The program will also be streamed live on the PBS website and YouTube channel.
Preview videos are available now.
Carlson Evans, a former member of The American Legion 100th Anniversary Honorary Committee, describes in one segment her experience – and that of thousands of other nurses – in the height of the Vietnam War. Joining her in the episode Edie Meeks, also a Vietnam War nurse, and is veteran John Quintrell, who describes what the comfort of a combat nurse meant to him after he was paralyzed during the fighting.
The segment further chronicles the complicated road to installing the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which The American Legion supported by national resolution, starting in 1985, and continued to fight for it through its dedication in 1993.
- Honor & Remembrance