Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 11, 1993                   TAG: 9311120271
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW MEMORIAL

In Washington, D.C., a city where memorials abound, the day's observance willinclude dedication of the first statue honoring American women who have served in the military - specifically those who served in the Vietnam War.

It is sad that this event has brought out detractors. The sculpture - depicting three fatigue-clad women, one of whom is seated on sandbags, cradling a wounded male soldier - has been called deceptive by some. Ted Sampley, publisher of the U.S. Veterans Dispatch in North Carolina, said it gives the false impression that American women were serving shoulder-to-shoulder with men in combat in Vietnam when women, mostly nurses, served in the rear.

But the enemy's mortar fire sometimes found the rear as well as the front lines. Women were injured; at least eight were killed. And Vietnam soldiers whose lives were saved by women nurses, doctors or medics aren't likely to be among those who question the appropriateness of the Vietnam Women's Memorial.

Anyway, critics of the new sculpture miss the point: that women - beginning with the little-known Margaret Corbin during the War for Independence - have always been willing to serve their country during wartime. (During World War II, more than 200 women were killed on the front lines.) Their role, on and off the battlefield, has received too little notice, recognition and gratitude.

Today, even as the armed services and the nation's conscience struggle with the issue of women being sent into combat, it would be deceiving to minimize women's contributions, past and present, to the American military and this country's military traditions.