April 07, 2015

Eastern National to maintain Vietnam Women's Memorial

By Andrea Dickerson
News
Eastern National to maintain Vietnam Women's Memorial
Eastern National, a non-profit organization focused on improving America's national parks, will begin preserving and promoting the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

Non-profit will assume caretaking responsibilities of one of the most prominent memorials in the nation's capital.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation recently announced its decision to entrust Eastern National, a non-profit organization focused on improving America's national parks, with the preservation and promotion of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial. In collaboration with the National Park Service, Eastern National will assume responsibility of the memorial.

Established in 1984, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation (VWMF) was established to honor the women who served in Vietnam. Through the creation and erection of the monument, families who lost loved ones could be reminded of those women — the ones that provided comfort and care for injured and mortally wounded troops.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial came to fruition after a 10-year battle on Capitol Hill. The American Legion played an integral part in making the dream a reality, said VWMF founder, Diane Carlson Evans. “The American Legion has been very important to us for so many years,” said Evans, a Legionnaire. “The American Legion really took the lead to help honor Vietnam veteran women. We have had their support since day one. I remember the first convention I went to, a resolution to support the memorial passed."

Evans, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army Nurse Corps, believes the fruition of the monument would not have been possible without the efforts of the American Legion, and she looks forward to the foundation’s allies building on that success.

Although Eastern National is a new partnership for the VWMF, the foundation has been working with the National Park Service since 1993, said Evans.

“We wanted to ensure (the monument’s) future, because we aren’t going to live forever,” Evans said. “We turned it over to a safe harbor. Eastern National is an agency that can carry on the mission and enhance National Park Service programs. We feel really confident that the support of these two agencies will allow further use of the monument into the future."

Collectively, the Eastern National and the National Park Service provide maintenance and promotion for national parks, exhibits and monuments. They will continue to host “In Their Own Words: Storytelling at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial,” a first person oral storytelling tradition held at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the National Mall every Memorial Day and Veterans Day. In addition, a featured woman speaker will participate during the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial 1:00 pm Ceremony at the“Wall”.

These traditions mean a great deal not only to Evans, but to the veterans and family members that cherish the monument. "We want to see this carried on," she said. "During all my years as an Army nurse, I loved my patients. They were such wonderful young men. I saw how they suffered and died. I also witnessed the women that were there to take care of them. At the time, the country seemed to have turned its back on us veterans. It was confusing and painful to come home from war and see that our country was not supporting us....

"In 1982 when Jan Scruggs and Jack Wheeler dedicated the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, they changed the attitudes of a lot of people in this country. Finally people recognized who we are. We died for this country. We served. We sacrificed - and we suffered.... We also have to remember the women who served."

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