Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba (December 11, 1943 – February 18, 1966) was one of the first two American nurses killed in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. She was from

Dunmore, Pennsylvania Dunmore is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, adjoining Scranton, Pennsylvania, Scranton. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and was settled in 1835 and incorporated in 1862. Extensive anthrac ...

and died in a helicopter crash.

Biography

Drazba was born in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the daughter of Joseph Drazba and Marcella Drazba. She graduated from

Dunmore High School Dunmore High School is the secondary education, public school for the borough of Dunmore, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Dunmore School District. Dunmore High School is located at 300 West Warren Street. According to the National Center for E ...

in 1961. She trained as a nurse at Scranton State General Hospital, graduating in 1964 as a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

. In 1965, Drazba went to Vietnam with the Army Nurse Corps. She held the rank of

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

, and served at the 3rd Field Hospital in

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. In February 1966, Drazba and another nurse, Elizabeth A. Jones, were among the seven American military personnel who died in a helicopter crash northeast of

Tan Son Nhut Air Base Tan Son Nhut Air Base ( vi, Căn cứ không quân Tân Sơn Nhứt) (1955–1975) was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) facility. It was located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base durin ...

, South Vietnam, when the helicopter hit electrical lines and burned. Drazba and Jones were the first two American women to die in the Vietnam War. Her remains were returned to the United States, and buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

. The Friends of the Forgotten and others pursued a posthumous

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

decoration for Drazba in 2010. Their case rested on an alternative explanation for the helicopter's crash: if the helicopter was shot down instead of caught in wires, they suggested, Drazba's might be reclassified as a combat death, and qualify for a Purple Heart.

Memorials

A scholarship fund in Drazba's memory was established at Dunmore High School in 1966. In 1967, a memorial plaque about Drazba was placed at the Scranton State General Hospital, where she trained. Her name appears on Panel 05E, Line 046, of the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those s ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

; she is one of the eight women, all of whom were nurses, included in the Memorial's rolls. The Friends of the Forgotten erected a six-foot bronze statue in her honor in 2012, at the Gino Merli Veterans' Center, on the site of her former hospital in Scranton. The statue is surrounded by a space paved in bricks with dedication messages, an array of flags, and two polished stone benches, one dedicated to the four other Dunmore High School graduates lost in Vietnam, and one from the Friends of the Forgotten. In November 2019,

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

sponsored Senate Resolution 415, requesting that the U. S. Postmaster General issue a commemorative stamp series in honor of women veterans. Drazba was named in the text of the resolution, as one of the examples of the sacrifices women in military service have made in the history of the United States.

References

External links

*
Video of the dedication of the Drazba memorial
in Scranton, June 12, 2012, on YouTube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Drazba, Carol Ann 1943 births 1966 deaths American female military personnel of the Vietnam War American military personnel killed in the Vietnam War American women nurses People from Dunmore, Pennsylvania 20th-century American women United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War United States Army Nurse Corps officers Military personnel from Pennsylvania