WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2017
PHOTO BY REBECCA LEFTWICH
Donna Rowe, who was a triage nurse at the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon for 369 days in 1968-69, speaks at the Newnan High School auditorium during the latest installment of the NHS History Series.
Army nurse, Vietnam hero: ‘We weren’t misfits’
By REBECCA LEFTWICH becky@newnan.com Donna Rowe wants people to know the truth about the men and women who served in Vietnam. “The liberal, progressive press, the
“My mother said to me when I was leaving for Vietnam, ‘Donna, whatever you do, do what is right and come home safe.’” Dan Rathers of the world, had painted us as dropouts, drug addicts, misfits, all draftees,” said Rowe, a former Army triage nurse who served for 369 days in 1968-69 at the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. “Let me just set the record straight.” Speaking at Newnan High School as part of the NHS History Series, Rowe said the people with whom she served were educated, “clean, honest and faithful.” “We were, up until that time, the best educated military this country had ever put to war,” Rowe said. “As a triage nurse in Vietnam, I was trained to know if they were doped up. I was going to give ‘em more stuff, and I could have killed them. In my 369 days in that triage area in Vietnam, I never saw one addict. Not one.” There against their will as a result of the draft? No way, she said.
“Seventy-four percent of the men who served volunteered,” she said. “A nd 10 0 percent of the women volunteered.” As for the derisive “baby-killers” accusation hurled at service members as they returned home from the unpopular war? Well... a photograph in the nurse’s old scrapbook proves differently. Once upon a time, Rowe said, her life changed because another life was saved.
PHOTOS BY MAGGIE BOWERS
Brian Wright returned to his hometown of Newnan earlier this month in a performance hosted by the Wadsworth Auditorium.
‘Big City’ Brian Wright comes home
11,000 pairs of boots on the ground Rowe, a Daughter of the American Revolution Medal of Honor recipient and the first woman inducted into the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame, was one of 265,000 women who served in the Vietnam War. Of those women, 11,000 served active duty – “boots on the ground.” Eight – all Army nurses – were killed in the line of duty. “How did I end up in the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame? How did I end up being the one who got the DAR Medal of Honor? How did that happen?” Rowe said. “That happened because I did the right thing at the right time in Vietnam that any good Army nurse would have done. So when I accept these honors, I’m accepting them for every woman that served with me during the Vietnam War.” And while Rowe says the story of her “right thing at the right time” could have been told 1,000 times about other people, hers will be told for decades at the Smithsonian Institute in a featured clip from a documentary on the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, the Huey helicopter that became an icon of the Vietnam War.
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By CLAY NEELY clay@newnan.com “Big City” Brian Wright returned home from Nashville to Newnan to play an evening of country music at the Wadsworth Auditorium April 15. Wright, who is the son of Lamar and Cathy Wright of Newnan, graduated from Newnan High School and has had his pilot’s license for more than 18 years. Playing country music is a passion of Wright’s, as he’s released albums and singles through his website. Wright was inspired by classic country heroes like Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and George Jones, and shared his personal brand of “real” country tunes with Newnan. Music runs deep in Wright’s family. The Wrights, a Nashville husband-andwife duo, feature brother Adam and sister- 11-year-old Carlisle took the stage at the recent in-law Shannon. Wright’s uncle is Newn- Big City Brian Wrigt concert held at the Wadsworth an’s Alan Jackson. Auditorium April 15. With the uncertainties of air travel following the September 11 attacks, Wright, a self-taught guitar player at 21 years old, formed his first band in 2001 and has been playing music ever since. “I refuse to use an idea or rhyme because it fits or sounds cool,” explained Wright in a recent release. “But, what I do is real. Reality is not always perfect.” The Leonard Washington Trio, with guest pedal steel player Warren Hall, opened for Wright.
Walking Dead filming starts May 1 By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL sarah@newnan.com It’s nearly time for “The Walking Dead” to return to Senoia. Principal photography for season eight is set to begin May 1, according to
Location Manager Mike Riley. Riley addressed the Senoia City Council on April 17. He said there was a bit of work that needed to be done on the Alexandria set, located at the bottom of Main Street in the Gin Property residential
development. “We probably have more work to do,” he said. “I just wanted to say hello and that we’re glad to be back,” Riley said. He said he’s had a positive meeting with new City Manager Harold Sim-
mons and that he thinks they’ll have a productive working relationship. “We’ve got a good relationship with the city and the citizens of Senoia,” he said. “Welcome back,” said Councilman Maurice Grover.
Plein air painters offer sneak peek By MAGGIE BOWERS maggie@newnan.com
PHOTO BY KIRK LARSON
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David Boyd Jr. demonstrates his painting to observers on the streets of Apalachicola, Florida.
Plein air painting, according to Artist Daily, an online community geared toward fine artists across the nation, is about leaving the four walls of a studio behind to experience painting and drawing in the landscape itself. Newnan boasts its own small community of plein air painters including David Boyd Jr., a 1 Xtra front
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Coweta native who explained that he uses the technique to be “in the moment” when painting. “I use my plein air work as a way to ‘capture a feeling,’” Boyd states in a bio included on the artist’s personal website, www.davidboydjr.com. “I use my camera to record a moment. Back in my studio, I like to combine these to create large-scale paintings of those things I wish I could keep forever.” Boyd, along with a few addi-
, MARCH 22, WEDNESDAY
nts in March... e Upcoming Eve Check out thes
tional local artists, will come together to enjoy and demonstrate plein air painting later this month. The event, Open Air Meriwether, is open to the general public, and will allow observers to watch plein air painters in action as they set up their equipment and paint in an open, outdoor environment. “A major advantage of painting outdoors is that it eliminates daily
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2017
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