1 Lt. Sharon Lane

The Memorial

Sharon Lane wrote home that she was starting the night shift soon, so she wouldn’t have to get up early. “Still very quiet around here,” she wrote. “Haven’t gotten mortared for a couple of weeks now.”
Her name seems unremarkable. A lovely smile frozen in time in a snapshot: Her face seems unremarkable. An Army nurse: a calling not remarkable, either, considering that Army nurses have been in the nation’s battles since the founding. The limited information we can find on her today tells us that Lane was dedicated, decent, and levelheaded, and deserves to be remembered for what she did rather than for what happened to her – but that is not to be.
More: http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/nurse-sharon-lane-paid-the-highest-price-in-vietnam/

SHARON ANN LANE
is honored on Panel 23W, Row 112 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/29552/SHARON-A-LANE

First Lieutenant
312TH EVAC HOSP, 67TH MED GROUP, 44TH MED BDE, USARV
Army of the United States

2LT Lane began training on May 5 at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. On 17 June she reported to Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado. While at Fitzsimons, she was promoted to First Lieutenant. On 24 April 1969 she reported to Travis Air Force Base in California with orders for Vietnam.
She arrived at the 312th Evac Hospital at Chu Lai on 29 April and was assigned to the Intensive Care ward for a few days before being assigned to the Vietnamese Ward. She worked 5 days a week (12 hours per day) in this ward and on the sixth day worked in Intensive Care.
At 0605, 8 June 1969, the 74th Medical Battalion reported a rocket hit between Wards 4a and 4b of the 312th Evacuation Hospital. The explosion killed two and wounded 27 US and Vietnamese personnel (see the 67th Medical Group log). 1LT Lane was killed by fragmentation wounds.
Although seven other American military nurses died while serving in Vietnam, 1LT Lane was the only American servicewoman killed as a direct result of enemy fire throughout the war.
https://www.virtualwall.org/dl/LaneSA01a.htm