Carol Ann Drazba
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Carol Ann Drazba | |
|---|---|
 Drazba's nursing school photo, from the front page of the San Francisco Examiner, February 19, 1966. | |
| Born | December 11, 1943 Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | February 18, 1966 (aged 22) |
| Cause of death | Helicopter crash |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Known for | One of the first two American nurses to die in the Vietnam War |
Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba (December 11, 1943 – February 18, 1966) was one of the first two American nurses killed in the Vietnam War. She was from Dunmore, Pennsylvania and died in a helicopter crash.[1]
Drazba was born in Waterbury, Connecticut during World War II, the daughter of Joseph Drazba and Marcella Drazba. She graduated from Dunmore High School in 1961. She trained as a nurse at Scranton State General Hospital, graduating in 1964 as a registered nurse.[2]
In 1965, Drazba went to Vietnam with the Army Nurse Corps. She held the rank of second lieutenant, and served at the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon.[3] 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, South Vietnam,[4][5] when the helicopter hit electrical lines and burned.[6] Drazba and Jones were the first two American women to die in the Vietnam War.[7][8] Her remains were returned to the United States,[9] and buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[10]
The Friends of the Forgotten and others pursued a posthumous Purple Heart 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.[11]