The Times Leader from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania • 117

Sunday, January 8, 2012 GOLackawanna Pll -'Ml nP 'Jar -fee VN a Mvr' 1 ill -IS y(gEGROUND' 1 Mi J. 1 Jvl 1. 9fttiForjoftnPA V4 i 4. PM em $35,000 in support from a benefactor, Beverly Hills-based director Chris Mclntyre, who withdrew his commitment last year. He told Go Lackawanna in July 2011 that both he and his brother were both being treated for severe forms of cancer.

In October, the Friends brought the Wall That Heals, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to Nay Aug Park that later led to a "chance meeting" with members of the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority. "Our themes are land, people, and industry, but this is all about the people," said LHVA Executive Director Natalie Gelb, shortly after presenting a $10,000 check to the Friends on Wednesday. "Carol Ann Drazba is a very important person to It's bur honor to be able to recognize somebody of national significance who has contributed so much and is so symbolic of the kind of generosity and sacrifice that the people of this area represent." While Atkinson was quick to note the participation of various people behind the project including the hundreds that purchased memorial pavers to support it, Friends of the Forgotten member Nick 'Fata said it would have been impossible without her diligence. "We probably would have failed along the way without Kim," Fata said. Gino Merli Veterans Center Commandant Michael Semiah said the monument will sit next to JASON RIEDMILLER PHOTO ABOVE: Kim Atkinson, spokesperson for the Friends of the Forgotten, displays photos of the clay sculpture of late 2nd Lt.

Carol Ann Drazba. Looking on is Drazba's sister, Joann Katula. TOP: Members of the Friends of the Forgotten, along with Drazba's friends and family, break ground on the new memorial site. By CHRISTOPHER HUGHES chughesgolackawarma.com lasting memorial to a Dunmore 0 native' and the first American jA servicewoman killed in the Vietnam War has a new home, back where her nursing career began. A check presentation and groundbreaking was held on Wednesday, Jan.

4, at the Gino J. Merli Veterans Center, 401 Perm Scranton, where a six-foot tall bronze statue of 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Drazba created by Monuments by Parise of Carbondale is expected to be placed this summer as a tribute to the local woman. Drazba was killed Feb. 18, 1966, when the hel-" icopter she was flying in crashed into high tension wires outside Saigon after she had served in Vietnam for about four months.

But she got her start as a nurse on the grounds where the Merli Center now stands the site of the former Scranton State General Hospital. "She will stand on the corner here, on sacred ground," said Friends of the Forgotten spokesperson Kim Atkinson. "This is where she began, this is where she will stay. She will be here to watch over her patients for the rest of eternity." H.J ft si'' The Friends of the Forgotten, a veterans support group, first unveiled plans for the memorial to Drazba in Oct. 2010.

Ground was broken on a planned memorial site at the St. Joseph Center's Dunmore Campus in April, and an unveiling was originally set for Oct. 8, 2011 "We've hit many obstacles," Atkinson said, noting a lack of a complete agreement with St. Joseph's Center. The $65,000 project lost approximately See DRAZBA, Page 10.