American Legion Past National Commander Denise Rohan helps accept the honor in the White House, on behalf of all military women.
Diane Carlson Evans was a high school senior when she received her first citizenship award. It was presented by the Buffalo, Minn., American Legion post. More than 60 years later, on Jan. 2, 2025, she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in a ceremony at the White House, once again with support from The American Legion.
The farm girl who joined the Army during the height of the Vietnam War, served as a combat nurse and came home to spearhead the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. dedicated 31 years ago, has become an inspiration to new generations of women in military service.
Unable to travel from her home in Montana, due to health reasons, Carlson Evans selected American Legion Past National Commander Denise Rohan, the first woman elected to lead the nation’s largest organization of U.S. veterans, to help accept the medal from President Joseph Biden.
“I accept the PCM on behalf of, and for, my sister veterans who richly deserve this recognition, by the President of the United States, to the thousands of enlisted women, officers, and women of all military occupational specialties serving in the combat theater, and all around the world – all worthy of remembrance and honor for believing we could make a difference serving our country,” said Carlson Evans, whose 2010 memoir, “Healing Wounds: A Vietnam War Combat Nurse’s 10-Year Fight to Win Women a Place of Honor in Washington, D.C.” was published by Permuted Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster.
Rohan, a U.S. Army veteran, joined retired Army Cols. Karen M. Gausman and Lennie Susan Enzel, and retired Navy Capt. Judy Brinckerhoff in the ceremony. Afterward, they and Donna Lee Greenwood, her Vietnam-era Army veteran husband Ronald Greenwood, and American Legion Past National Commander’s Aide Mike Rohan paid a visit to the memorial to share the moment with all women who have served.
“My hope is that all military women who served during the Vietnam era, including our civilian sisters who wore a different uniform, feel the healing power of the monument and will share their stories of service with their families and our nation,” Carlson Evans said. “Ours is an inspiring story that can power women’s future. It’s not just for the women of the Vietnam era. It’s for our daughters and granddaughters, for the women who step up to serve today, and for our brother soldiers who united with us in that same patriotic spirit.
“As one woman soldier said, ‘I have the same training as the men. I get the same pay. I signed the same oath. I should take the same risks.’ President Biden’s presentation of the PCM to me confirms at last that our nation is eternally grateful for the dedication, courage and sacrifice made by the military and civilian women in support of our armed forces during the Vietnam era.”
The Presidential Citizens Medal was established Nov. 13, 1969, to recognize an individual “who has performed exemplary deeds or services for their country or their fellow citizens.”
Among its past recipients have been inventors, doctors, educators, diplomats, public officials, astronauts, athletes, lawyers, law-enforcement officers, civil-rights activists, philanthropists and military leaders.
Notable past recipients from the military/veteran community are former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a World War II veteran and American Legion member (1989); Gen. Wayne Downing (2008), whose military and national security career spanned from the Vietnam War to the Global War on Terrorism; former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (1992), who served as an American Legion 100th Anniversary Honorary Committee member, with Carlson-Evans; U.S. Marine Corps Col. William Higgins (1992, posthumously), who was taken captive in Lebanon while on a U.N. peacekeeping mission, held hostage and murdered in captivity; Gen. Colin Powell (1989), U.S. secretary of state from 2001-2005, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Women’s Memorial; and U.S. Navy Adm. and Secretary of Energy James David Watkins (2008), a Vietnam War officer and Chief of Naval Operations.
- Honor & Remembrance