Nurse’s Statue Wins Panel OK : To Be Last Allowed at Vietnam Memorial

Legislation authorizing a bronze statue of a female Army nurse at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was approved by a Senate committee today over a dissenter’s protest that the memorial might become a sculpture garden for special interest groups.

Before the bill was passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by voice vote and sent to the Senate floor, it was amended to stress that Congress would not approve any further additions to the memorial once the nurse statue is built.

But Sen. Daniel J. Evans (R-Wash.) was not satisfied. He noted that a statue of three Vietnam infantrymen and a 60-foot flagpole already have been erected on the 2.2-acre memorial site near the Lincoln Memorial, and he predicted there would be further demands to recognize others who served in Vietnam.