Let's Talk About American Hero 1st Lt. Sharon A. Lane, 67th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade

Since this is Memorial Day, let's talk about U.S. Army First Lieutenant Sharon A. Lane, who was with the 67th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade, in Vietnam on June 8, 1969. 

According to the U.S. Army Museum, Sharon Ann Lane was born on July 7, 1943, in Zanesville, Ohio. Her family moved to Canton, Ohio, when she was two. That is where she spent her childhood. That's where she grew up. That's where her character was formed and where she dreamt of being a nurse. 

After graduating from Canton High School in 1961, she enrolled at Aultman Hospital School of Nursing, which is now Aultman College of Nursing. She graduated in 1965 before spending the next two years in the Obstetrics Unit at Aultman Hospital. Then, in 1968, supposedly after never having ever talked about joining the military, it's said she surprised her family and friends by joining the U.S. Army Nurse Corps Reserves in April of 1968. 

Let's remember that 1968 was a year of significant anti-military sentiment in the United States. College campuses were rioting, and student protests were common and fueled by the unpopular Vietnam War and pro-Communism professors. The anti-war movement gained momentum throughout the decade, but really reached a peak in 1968. 

The war in Vietnam, which began escalating in the mid-1960s,  and the Tet Offensive in early 1968, where the North Vietnamese launched a surprise attack, significantly shook public confidence in the war's progress and the government's handling of it. Anti-war protests were widespread. The anti-war movement had a significant impact on fueling an anti-military sentiment that plagued American society for many years. The anti-war sentiment had a major impact on how Americans looked down on those serving our country in our military.

It was not uncommon for Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines to return home from duty in Vietnam to people spitting on them. Most who served in the military at the time, including those who never served in Vietnam, were treated horribly by Americans -- especially in colleges and universities, but also by being discriminated against when it came to finding jobs and adjusting to civilian life. Many veterans at the time found it easier to say they never served, rather than put up with disdain and ridicule for serving. 

The anti-war movement had a lasting impact on our American culture for years. It contributed to the shift in public opinion of anyone serving in the military. The 1960s and 1970s were a time when Americans serving our country were treated with disdain and loathing. As for Lt. Lane volunteering to join the military in 1968, I can definitely understand why she would keep her interest in a career in the military a secret. It was extremely unpopular to join the military back in those days. 

For me personally, I remember having to wade through protestors outside of a Marine Corps Recruiting Office in 1972 when I went there for information on enlisting. I also remember later, while being in the Marine Corps and attending an event at a California University in 1976. Even though it was just a year after the fall of Saigon, I was pelted with food and spit on by students who called me all sorts of vile things. And yes, I remember how the faculty looked on with approval. They might not have said they agreed or approved of the actions of their students, but their silence and unwillingness to hold those students to account for their horrid behavior was proof enough for me to understand that they supported what their students were doing. 

As for women in the military in 1968, we should understand that American women were officially forbidden from combat roles in our military until 2013. Women did serve in other areas of the military. Mostly working as rear-echelon nurses. The fact is, it was not until the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps of the Medical Department under the Army Reorganization Act of 1901 that women nurses were allowed to join the Army in a formal capacity. 

Sharon Lane underwent basic training at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. She graduated in June of 1968 with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Her first post was at the Army’s Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado, in the Tuberculosis Ward. She was soon promoted to First Lieutenant. Her promotion allowed her to move to the Cardiac Care Unit and the recovery room. 

It's said, while Lt. Lane liked her work, she soon requested a transfer to a place far more challenging. She requested duty in Vietnam. Many nurses who served in the Vietnam War were recent graduates and were ordered to go after receiving stipends from the Army while in school. In contrast to others, Lt. Lane volunteered to be sent to Vietnam. 

She arrived at the 312th Evacuation Hospital in Chu Lai, South Vietnam, on April 29, 1969. And yes, it's said that not long after arriving there, Lt. Lane volunteered for one of the most unpopular wards at the hospital. She volunteered to work in the Vietnamese ward where American doctors and nurses not only looked after injured Vietnamese civilians and children. But also, that ward was where wounded Viet Cong prisoners were kept. And yes, they would often spit, kick, and insult the American doctors and nurses there. 

Martha Green, who worked with Lt. Lane, remembered her taking everything in stride. “She didn’t make a big deal out of it,” recalled Green, “she said she was a nurse, and she had to take care of patients. It didn’t make a difference whether they were Vietnamese or POWs or our own soldiers.” 

Attending to her patients kept Lane extremely busy. She worked five days a week for 12 hours each day. During her days off, she volunteered to care for critically injured American Soldiers in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Being so close to the frontlines was dangerous, however, and within weeks of arriving, two enemy rockets struck the hospital compound. 

While it's said that Lt. Lane remained unfazed, in a letter to her parents, she summed up her new environment by saying, “… hardly anyone is scared though. It is just like part of the job.” 

Her attitude and dedication, not only to those she cared for but those she worked with, earned her instant admiration and respect. Forty-one days after she arrived in Vietnam, 1st Lt. Sharon A. Lane was killed by shrapnel from a 122-mm rocket that hit the hospital. She died while trying to protect her patients from the incoming blasts. 

She was laid to rest with full military honors, and the Army posthumously awarded her several medals, including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with the “V” for valor decoration. She was the only American servicewoman to be awarded such an honor at the time. Her name can be found on panel 23W, line 112 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

Lt. Lane’s time in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, while short, left a lasting impression on all those who met her. Since her death, a memorial has gone up in her honor at Aultman College of Nursing, and she was inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame. 

It's said America's military is full of heroes and heroines. Sharon A. Lane was one such heroine. A member of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Lt. Lane has been remembered for being quiet, hardworking, and dedicated to her patients. And while other nurses died in Vietnam, she has the tragic distinction of being the only U.S. military nurse killed by enemy fire in the Vietnam War. 

So, if we talk about a common thread that runs through those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, the character of those who should not be forgotten. We must talk about their caring, their devotion to duty, their devotion to their comrades, their selflessness, their love for others, and their doing what's right -- even if it's at the expense of their own lives.  

Tom Correa