Re: Orlowski, A Fallen Angel -- War Stories!

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Date Posted: Fri, October 13 2006, 1:16:51
Author: Jeff Northridge
Author Host/IP: dialup-4.131.211.97.Dial1.SanJose1.Level3.net / 4.131.211.97
Subject: Re: Orlowski, A Fallen Angel
In reply to: J. Orlowski 's message, "Orlowski, A Fallen Angel" on Thu, October 12 2006, 20:01:53

Howdy J.;

Your aunt's, 1LT Hedwig Diane Orlowski's, Army Serial Number is N 5520732 and her MOS was 3443 (Operating Room Nurse). She was born on 4/13/44 and her hometown of record is Detroit, MI. Her tour of duty in Vietnam commenced on 1/27/67 and she was assigned to the 67th Evacuation Hospital, 67th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade. She was KIA on 11/30/67 in Binh Dinh Province due to "Non-Hostile, Died While Missing, Fixed Wing--Non-Crew, Air Loss, Crash On Land". 1LT Orlowski's religious preference was Roman Catholic, she was single, and her body was recovered.

The plane was a C-7B (Caribou) with a tail number of 62-4175. "Died while missing" does not mean that she was an MIA; it just means that her body could not be immediately recovered. Everyone else onboard the aircraft was also KIA. The plane was returning medical personnel who had been sent to Pleiku during an emergency back to Qui Nhon (where the 67th Evac was located) and it crashed into a mountain about 5 mi. south of Qui Nhon (see http://www.nexus.net/~911gfx/vietnam/maps/nd49-09/nd49_09d.html ). It appears that 1LT Orlowski was a graduate of the GEN H. H. Arnold High School in Wiesbaden, Germany (1962) and of the Hurley School of Nursing (1966) before accepting her commission as an officer in the U.S. Army.

There are some tributes to (and a couple of photographs of)1LT Orlowski which can be found at:

http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/lives.html

http://thewall-usa.com/

http://www.virtualwall.org/do/OrlowskiHD01a.htm

Your aunt is a genuine American heroine (she was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star). However, it is unlikely that any of the GIs whose lives that she saved would remember her because she was an operating-room nurse and most of the wounded who were serious enough to require surgery would have been anesthetized to the point where they wouldn't even recognize their own mother.

Your best bet would be to try to contact the doctors and nurses of the 67th Evac. who served during 1967. I'll look into that, but it's getting late and I'm going to go bed right now. I'll get back to you if I find out anything else.

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The 67th Evacuation Hospital -- Jeff Northridge, Fri, October 13 2006, 10:49:41 (dialup-4.246.30.232.Dial1.SanJose1.Level3.net/4.246.30.232)