Sharon has been honored in many ways since her death: the Daughters of the American Revolution named her 'Outstanding Nurse of the Year' in 1969, and honored her posthumously with 'the Anita Newcomb McGee Medal' at their annual Continental Congress in Washington D.C. on April 22, 1970. On November 11, 1969, the Fitzsimons Hospital named its recovery room the 'Lane Recovery Suite' in her memory, with a plaque and picture on display. On May 23, 1970, the 1965 Graduating Class from Aultman's School of Nursing put a plaque, picture, and poem by a classmate in Morrow House (the nursing school residence hall) in her honor. The 1970 Class at Aultman dedicated their yearbook to her as well. On October 18, 1970, Faircrest Memorial Junior High School was dedicated to Sharon and four other servicemen from Canton South who lost their lives in Vietnam; a plaque for each one was placed at the entrance to the school. On May 29, 1973 (Memorial Day) a statue to Sharon was dedicated in front of Aultman Hospital by the William F. Cody Garrison #50 of the Army/Navy Union. This statue was built with funds raised in the community, and is one of the first Vietnam memorials constructed in the United States. In March, 1986, Aultman Hospital opened the Sharon Lane Women's Center in its main lobby; two months later, on May 26, the Canton Chapter 199 of the Vietnam Veterans of America officially became the 'Sharon Lane Chapter #199'. There are two roads named for Sharon: one in Denver, CO; the other at Fort Belviour in Virginia. On September 12, 1995, Fort Hood, Texas dedicated the Sharon Lane Volunteer Center. A permanent display in her honor can be seen at the Ohio Society of Military History in Massillon, Ohio.
Sharon's father, John Lane, died on August 6, 1979. Her mother still lives in North Industry. She has a brother Gary Lane, a sister Judy (Tritt), and numerous nieces and nephews that she has never seen. Sharon Lane remains one of Stark County's most honored and remembered citizens.
Please read on and learn about the other Women who gave their all since Vietnam.
Vietnam U.S. Army
2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba ~~~~~~ 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones
Lt. Drazba and Lt. Jones were assigned to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. They died in a helicopter crash near Saigon, February 18, 1966. Drazba was from Dunmore, PA., Jones from Allendale, SC. Both were 22 years old.
Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander ~~~~~~ 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski
Capt. Alexander of Westwood, NJ and Lt. Orlowski of Detroit, MI died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evac. and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evac., in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.
2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan
Lt. Donovan, from Allston, MA, became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968. She was assigned to the 85th Evac. in Qui Nhon. She was 26 years old.
1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane
Lt. Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evac. at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Viet Nam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.
Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham, Chief Nurse at 91st Evac. Hospital, 43d Med Group, 44th Medical Brigade, Tuy Hoa.
Lt. Col. Graham, from Efland, NC, suffered a stroke in August 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.
U.S. Air Force
Capt. Mary Therese Klinker
Capt. Klinker, a flight nurse with the 10th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Travis Air Force Base, temporarily assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 1975 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans. This is known as the Operation Babylift crash. From Lafayette, IN, she was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Civilian
American Red Cross
Hannah Crews
Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, 1969.
Virginia Kirsch
Murdered by a U.S. soldier in Cu Chi, 1970.
Lucinda Richter
Died of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Cam Ranh Bay, 1971.
Army Special Services
Rosalyn Muskat
Died in a jeep accident, Long Binh, October 26, 1968.
Dorothy Phillips
Died in a plane crash, Qui Nhon, 1967.
Catholic Relief Services
Gloria Redlin
Shot in Pleiku, 1969.
Central Intelligence Agency
Barbara Robbins
Died when a car bomb exploded outside the American Embassy, Saigon, March 30, 1965.
Betty Gebhardt
Died in Saigon, 1971.
United States Agency for International Development
Marilyn Lynn Allan
Murdered by a U.S. soldier in Nha Trang, August 16, 1967.
Dr. Breen Ratterman (American Medical Association) Died from injuries suffered in a fall from her apartment balcony in Saigon, October 2, 1969
United States Department of the Navy OICC (Officer in Charge of Construction)
Regina "Reggie" Williams
Died of a heart attack in Saigon, 1964
Journalists
Georgette "Dickey" Chapelle
Killed by a mine on patrol with Marines outside Chu Lai, 4 Nov 1965.
Philipa Schuyler
Killed in a helicopter crash into the ocean near Da Nang, May 9, 1967.
Missionaries
Carolyn Griswald
Killed in raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968.
Janie A. Makil
Shot in an ambush, Dalat, 1963. Janie was five months old.
Ruth Thompson
Killed in a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot 1968
Ruth Wilting
Killed in a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot 1968.
POW/MIA
Evelyn Anderson
Captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to U.S.
Beatrice Kosin
Captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to U.S.
Betty Ann Olsen
Captured during a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968. Died in 1968 and was buried somewhere along Ho Chi Minh Trail by fellow POW, Michael Benge. Remains not recovered.
Eleanor Ardel Vietti
Captured at leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, May 30, 1962. Still listed as POW.
Operation Babylift
The following women were killed in the crash, outside Saigon, of the C5-A Galaxy transporting Vietnamese children out of the country on April 4, 1975. All of the women were working for various U.S. government agencies in Saigon at the time of their deaths with the exception of Theresa Drye (a child) and Laurie Stark (a teacher). Sharon Wesley had previously worked for both the American Red Cross and Army Special Services. She chose to stay on in Vietnam after the pullout of U.S. military forces in 1973.
Barbara Adams | Clara Bayot | Nova Bell | Arleta Bertwell | Helen Blackburn | Ann Bottorff | Celeste Brown | Vivienne Clark | Juanita Creel | Mary Ann Crouch | Dorothy Curtiss | Twila Donelson | Helen Drye | Theresa Drye | Mary Lyn Eichen | Elizabeth Fugino | Ruthanne Gasper | Beverly Herbert | Penelope Hindman | Vera Hollibaugh | Dorothy Howard | Barbara Kauvulia | Barbara Maier | Rebecca Martin | Sara Martini | Martha Middlebrook | Katherine Moore | Marta Moschkin | Marion Polgrean | June Poulton | Joan Pray | Sayonna Randall | Anne Reynolds | Marjorie Snow | Laurie Stark | Barbara Stout | Doris Jean Watkins | Sharon Wesley
Sources: Vietnam Women's Memorial Project (Military) and A Circle of Sisters/A Circle of Friends (Civilian).
Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, 2001 S Street NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC 20009 202-328-7253.
A Circle of Sisters/A Circle of Friends, 1015 South Gaylord, Suite 190, Denver, CO 80209, 303-575-1311.
Revised Nov 2000. This list is subject to correction and addition as further information becomes known.
The Vietnam Information graciously provided with permission by:
Ann Kelsey, Army Special Services-Libraries Cam Ranh Bay 1969-1970
kelsey@openix.com
Desert Storm
Major Marie T. Rossi was killed 1 March 1991 in Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Storm. She was flying a CH-47D CHINOOK Cargo Helicopter when it crashed into an unlit Microwave Tower in bad weather. Major Rossi was 32 and a native of Oradell, NJ.
Army
PFC Pamela V. Gay, 19, Surrey, Virginia
PFC Cindy D.J. Bridges, 20, Trinity, Alabama
Private Dorothy Fails, Taylor, Arizona
Private Candace Daniel
Sergeant Tracey Brogdon, Bartow, Florida
2Lt Kathleen M. Sherry, 23, Tonawanda, NY
Specialist Cindy Beaudoin, 19, Plainfield, Conn.
Specialist Christine Mayes, 22, Rochester Mills, Pa.
Specialist Beverly Clark, 23, Armagh, Pa.
Specialist Adrienne L. Mitchell, 20, Moreno Valley, Calif.
Staff Sergeant Tatiana Khaghani Dees, Rockland, New York.
Sergeant Cheryl LaBeau O'Brien, 24, Racine, Wisc.
Lt. Lorraine Lawton
Navy
AG1 Shirley Marie Cross
Stateside
ANG Pilot CWO2 Carol McKinney, Missouri
Peacetime
Lt Cmdr. Barbara Allen Rainey, 34, US Navy
-- First woman pilot in the history of the U.S. Navy, earning her gold wings in 1974. She was killed while training another pilot, in an air accident in Florida in 1982.
Lt. Laura Piper, 25,
Lt Piper, an Air Force Academy graduate, was one of 26 people killed when Air Force fighter jets shot down two Army helicopters over Iraq on 14 April 1994.
The "Official "Conclusions.
Lt. Kara Hultgreen, 29, US Navy
Lt. Hultgreen was the first woman to qualify in a combat-ready F-14 Tomcat, graduating third in her pilot training class. She was a member of the Black Lions of VF-213 readying to deploy to the Persian Gulf. As she was approaching the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln on 25 Oct 1994, her aircraft began losing altitude. Her radar intercept officer ejected successfully. Hultgreen ejected immediately after, but the jet had already rolled. After an exhaustive search, her body and the plane were not recovered. She received full military honors upon her death.
The Navy salvaged the plane and recovered her body, still strapped inside the ejector seat. A four-month investigation found that engine malfunction caused the crash and that almost no pilot could have saved the plane after the left engine stalled.
Captain Amy Lynn Svoboda, 29, US Air Force
Captain Svoboda, an Air Force jet pilot, died on May 29, 1997, after her A-10 Thunderbolt plane crashed during a training mission at the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range in Arizona. Capt. Amy Lynn Svoboda's death marked the first fatality of a woman pilot in the Air Force, which has only 13 other women fighter pilots. The No. 2 training officer in her squadron, Captain Svoboda had logged more than 1,400 hours piloting jets and was part of a training flight with another A-10 when her plane crashed near Gila Bend, AZ.
Spec. Angela E. Niedermayer,
Eight soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers were killed in the July 8 1997 crash of a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter, Ft Bragg, NC. Spec. Angela E. Niedermayer, 20, a noncommunications interceptor and analyst with the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion. Niedermayer joined the Army in July 1996. She had been assigned to the 313th since February 1997. Her military education included the Noncommunications Interceptor Analyst School and Airborne School. Her awards and decorations include the Army Service Ribbon and the Parachutist Badge. Niedermayer, a Richmond, Va., native, is survived by her husband, mother and father.
Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Sherry Lynn Olds, 40, of Panama City, Florida.
Sergeant Olds joined the Air Force 20 years ago after graduating from junior college. She had been assigned to the U.S. embassy in East Africa for the last year and was killed in the August 1998 bombing.
Lt.j.g. Meredith Carol Loughran, 26, of Sandston, Va.
EA-6B "Prowler" crew member missing since the aircraft crash aboard the Norfolk-based nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Nov. 8, 1998, The crew members are presumed lost at sea.
Captain Jennifer Odom at West Point
U.S. Army pilot Captain Jennifer J. Odom, 29, of Brunswick, Maryland, along with her co-pilot and three other crew members, died July 23 1999 when the DeHavilland RC7 reconnaissance plane she was piloting crashed into a mountain in southern Colombia. The Pentagon says there is "no evidence" that narco-guerrillas shot down the plane," but adds that "the investigation is continuing." The whole scenario surrounding Captain Odom's crash is at best suspect.
For more details please visit: THE UNQUIET DEATH OF JENNIFER ODOM at Salon.com Salon Article or at an alternative site - THE UNQUIET DEATH OF JENNIFER ODOM
On Sept. 1, 1999 Sgt. 1st Class Jeanne M. Balcombe, of the 1st Platoon, 55th Military Police Company, was posthumously awarded the Soldiers Medal for heroism in the face of danger. While on duty on Aug. 21st 1999, Balcombe's quick thinking and selfless response safeguarded and protected others at the Troop Medical Clinic at Camp Red Cloud, Korea. She placed herself in harm's way between three soldiers and an armed gunman. Sgt. Balcombe, nee Hamilton, who is from McMinneville, Ore. demonstrated her absolute dedication to the safety of her fellow soldiers at the cost of her own life. She is survived by her husband - Harvey "Mike" Balcombe and two daughters, Kristin and Alice.
Women sailors were among the casualties on board the USS Cole Incident in October 2000. Casualties include Lakeina Monique Francis, 19, Woodleaf, North Carolina and Seaman Recruit Lakiba Nicole Palmer, 22, of San Diego, California. About 35 of the crew are women. It is so tragic that young men and women serving their country voluntarily in peacetime become the victims of insane radicals with no regard for human life.
Thank you Militaryworld for Remembering 1LT.Sharon Lane
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