Annie Ruth Graham

Annie Ruth Graham
Born
Annie Ruth Graham

(1916-11-07)November 7, 1916
DiedAugust 14, 1968(1968-08-14) (aged 51)
Japan
NationalityAmerican
OccupationNurse

Annie Ruth Graham (November 7, 1916 – August 14, 1968) was a U.S. Army officer who was the highest-ranked American servicewoman to die during the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant Colonel Graham was the chief nurse at the 91st Evacuation Hospital in Tuy Hòa. In August 1968, she suffered a stroke and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. She had been a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War.[1] Graham was one of eight American servicewomen who died during the Vietnam War.[2] She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Graham's name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Her name is on Panel 48W, Line 12 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.[3]

The landscape surrounding the Vietnam Women's Memorial includes eight yellowwood trees that represent the eight American servicewomen who died during the Vietnam War - Graham, Carol Ann Drazba, Eleanor Grace Alexander, Pamela Dorothy Donovan, Elizabeth Ann Jones, Mary Therese Klinker, Sharon Ann Lane, and Hedwig Diane Orlowski.[4][5][6] The only servicewoman killed in action was First Lieutenant Sharon Lane; the rest died of accidents and illness.[7][8]

  1. ^ "American Military Women who Died in the Vietnam War". The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - The Wall-USA. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  2. ^ "Friends recall only nurse killed by hostile fire in Vietnam". Army Times. May 28, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  3. ^ "Women in Vietnam". Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
  4. ^ https://www.vietnamwar50th.com/education/week_of_april_16/#:~:text=They%20were%20all%20volunteers%2C%20and,Memorial%20Wall%2C%20in%20Washington%2C%20D.C.&text=Mary%20T.,Nurse%20Corps%20(Philadelphia%2C%20Univ.
  5. ^ "American Civilian and Military Women Who died in the Vietnam War (1959–1979)". Retrieved 2021-06-14.
  6. ^ "Women in Vietnam". Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
  7. ^ "Vietnam Women's Memorial". National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  8. ^ Uenuma, Francine (May 27, 2021). "Eight Women's Names Are Among the Thousands on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Here's What to Know About Them". Time. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2024.