Minnesota native who helped create Vietnam Women's Memorial receives Presidential Citizens Medal
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota native who served as an army nurse during the Vietnam War and lobbied Congress to make the Vietnam Women's Memorial received the Presidential Citizens Medal on Thursday night.
Diane Carlson Evans, who grew up in Buffalo, Minnesota, is one of 20 people to get the award from President Biden at a ceremony in Washington D.C. According to the White House, the medal is awarded to U.S. citizens "who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens."
After graduating from nursing school in Minneapolis, Carlson Evans joined the Army Nurse Corps and served in the burn unit of the 36th Evacuation Hospital in Vung Tau and at Pleiku in the 71st Evacuation Hospital. In total, Carlson Evans spent six years in the Army Nurse Corps, including one year in Vietnam.
After her time in the Army Nurse Corps, Carlson Evans became instrumental in getting a memorial built to honor the hundreds of thousands of women who served during the Vietnam War, including the nearly 10,000 women who served in-country during the conflict. As a result, in 1984, she co-founded the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation with two other former nurses.
The nonprofit lobbied Congress to create a memorial honoring Vietnam nurses on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Congress finally approved the construction of the statue in 1988.
![Glenna Goodacre [Misc.];Diane Carlson Evans](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2025/01/02/1c06648b-ed03-4e51-9338-f7a2137bf8a2/thumbnail/620x413/e4f898c5263b839b3e6fd2d944191548/gettyimages-50596982.jpg?v=fa9977353833f46f40b07abcd9d5240b#)
Nearly a decade after starting the foundation, on Nov. 11, 1993, Carlson Evans' vision came to life with the dedication of the Vietnam Women's Memorial.
"It really helped me come out and say 'Yes, I am a veteran, and I served in a war,'" Carlson Evans told CBS News in an interview last year. "I finally became very proud of what I did."
Currently, Carlson Evans serves as Chair for the Vietnam Women's Memorial/Eastern National Advisory Group and is the liaison to the National Park Service Regional Representative on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. She also volunteers for the Eastern National and National Park Service on behalf of the VWM.
Carlson Evans continues to work for veterans, focusing on readjustment services for them, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
