Recovery Michigan

Of the 265,000 women who served during Vietnam, nearly 10,000 military women served in-country during the conflict. Barred from combat, these women served in healthcare, communications, intelligence, and administrative positions. Civilian women served as foreign correspondents for news agencies, worked for organizations such as the American Red Cross and the USO, or served in other government agencies, such as USAID or at the embassy.

Like the men who served in combat, many female veterans of the Vietnam War era returned home to battle post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while others may have suffered the effects of exposure to chemical agents. 20 percent of women experienced PTSD at some point after the war, according to the 2015 study published in JAMA Psychiatry, a publication of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Most of these women were nurses and many are still living with the condition, researchers found.

VVMF’s In Memory program recognizes veterans whose lives were cut short as a result of their service in Vietnam but are not eligible for inclusion on The Wall as a result of Department of Defense (DoD) guidelines. Examples of causes of death that do fit the criteria for inclusion in VVMF’s In Memory program include PTSD related illnesses / suicide and exposure to Agent Orange and similar chemicals.

Lynda Van Devanter Buckley, Margaret Ann Haskins-Rose, Suzanne Margaret Ciscoe, and Bonnie Jean McWilliams served during the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. They are the only four women to be honored through the In Memory program