State Treasurer Stacy Garrity joined veterans, local leaders, Friends of the Forgotten North East Wing, and members of the community Saturday to celebrate Women’s History Month and honor the life and sacrifice of Carol Ann Drazba, who was killed in a helicopter crash while traveling for rest and recuperation leave on Feb. 18, 1966, during the Vietnam War. “Second Lt. Carol Ann Drazba, and her fellow nurses who volunteered to serve our country and go to Vietnam, held the hands of young men who were frightened, wounded, and far from their families,” Garrity said. “They provided hope while soldiers healed and dignity and compassion in their final moments — today we honor their memories and the legacies that they left behind.” Drazba, of Dunmore, studied nursing at the former Scranton State General Hospital School of Nursing and felt a deep calling to serve others. During her junior year, she joined the Army Student Nurse Program, committing to serve as a nurse in the Army for two years. She was first sent to Fort Huachuca in Arizona before being deployed to Vietnam in October 1965. There she spent months caring for wounded American servicemen enlisted in the war. Friends of the Forgotten were instrumental in the construction and installation of a memorial of Drazba that stands outside the Gino J. Merli Veterans’ Center, where the ceremony was held.
Carol Ann Drazba