03/14/2024
Sharon Lane became the first and only American servicewoman killed as a direct result of enemy fire during the Vietnam War. Lane was born July 7, 1943, in Zanesville, Ohio. Two years later, the Lane family moved to Canton, where she spent the remainder of her childhood and graduated from Canton South High School in 1961. She decided to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse by attending the Aultman Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1965. Lane worked at a local hospital for two years before deciding to join the U.S. Army Nurse Corps Reserve in 1968. In 1969, she was sent to Vietnam, working five days a week, 12 hours a day, and spent her off-duty time taking care of the most critically injured American soldiers in the surgical ICU.
On the morning of 8 June 1969, the 312th Evacuation Hospital was struck by a salvo of 122mm rockets fired by the Viet Cong. One rocket struck between Wards 4A and 4B, killing Lane instantly. She was one of three killed with another 27 wounded. Though one of eight American military nurses who died while serving in Vietnam, Sharon Lane was the only American nurse killed as a direct result of hostile fire. She was one month shy of her 26th birthday.
For her service in Vietnam, 1LT Sharon Ann Lane was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star with “V” device, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the National Order of Vietnam Medal, and the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross (with Palm). She was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in 1995.
