HELENA — Diane Carlson Evans, a former U.S. Army nurse and veterans’ advocate from Helena, has received one of the country’s highest honors.
Evans is one of 20 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal recognized by President Joe Biden on Thursday.
The award honors people who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”
Her citation states:
After serving as an Army nurse during the Vietnam War, Diane Carlson Evans founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation to ensure female service members received the recognition they deserve—one of our Nation’s most sacred obligations. Her duty and devotion embody the very best of who we are as Americans.
Evans served six years in the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War, including one year in Vietnam.
She later founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation, leading a yearslong effort to place a monument in honor of around 265,000 military and civilian women who served in a variety of roles during the war. That monument now stands on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall.
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“Her duty and devotion embody the very best of who we are as Americans,” the White House said in a statement announcing the medal recipients.
The Presidential Citizens Medal is considered the second-highest civilian honor in the United States.
