ITEMS LEFT AT THE WALL

Metal commemorative bracelet dedicated to U.S. Army First Lieutenant (1LT) and nurse Hedwig Diane Orlowski. The bracelet bears engraved representations of the American eagle from the coat of arms and Vietnam Veterans Memorial (VVM), as well as 1LT Orlowski's branch of service, rank, hometown of record, birth/casualty dates, and VVM Wall location information. The artifact was left by an anonymous donor as part of a larger assemblage of bracelets (VIVE (9464 - 9468, 9470, & 9471)) affixed to a tree near the Vietnam Women's Memorial (VWM) between December 1993 - March 1994.

METAL COMMEMORATIVE BRACELET DEDICATED TO U.S. ARMY FIRST LIEUTENANT (1LT) AND NURSE HEDWIG DIANE ORLOWSKI. THE OBJECT CONSISTS OF A FLAT STRIP OF RECTANGULARLY SHAPED, GOLD COLORED, POLISHED METAL (LIKELY ALUMINUM [?]) WITH SQUARED ENDS, BENT INTO A ROUGHLY CIRCULAR SHAPE TO FUNCTION AS A BRACELET. AT THE PROPER RIGHT-HAND SIDE OF THE EXTERIOR, OBVERSE OBJECT SURFACE IS AN ENGRAVING REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN EAGLE FROM THE COAT OF ARMS (I.E. EAGLE WITH SHIELD IN CHIEF FACING PROPER RIGHT AND CLUTCHING THIRTEEN (13) ARROWS IN LEFT TALON AND OLIVE BRANCH IN RIGHT TALON), IN-FILLED WITH BLACK COLORATION FOR LEGIBILITY. A SIMILAR ENGRAVING IS OBSERVED AT THE PROPER LEFT-HAND SIDE OF THE EXTERIOR, OBVERSE OBJECT SURFACE REPRESENTING THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL (VVM) ABOVE THE WALL LOCATION INFORMATION, "31E LINE 15", WHICH IS ENGRAVED IN BLOCK SCRIPT/ARABIC NUMERALS AND ALSO IN-FILLED FOR LEGIBILITY. A FINAL ENGRAVED, IN-FILLED INSCRIPTION IS CENTERED BETWEEN THE TWO (2) PREVIOUS ENGRAVINGS AT THE CENTER OF THE OBVERSE OBJECT SURFACE, IS DEDICATED TO U.S. ARMY FIRST LIEUTENANT (1LT) AND NURSE HEDWIG DIANE ORLOWSKI, AND BEARS HER BRANCH OF SERVICE, RANK, HOMETOWN OF RECORD, AND BIRTH/CASUALTY DATES ENGRAVED IN BLOCK SCRIPT/ARABIC NUMERALS. TURNER BOOK, PG. 232. THE OBJECT WAS ORIGINALLY DISCOVERED AFFIXED TO A TREE LEFT NEAR THE VIETNAM WOMEN'S MEMORIAL (VWM) ALONG WITH SEVERAL SIMILAR AND ASSOCIATED OBJECTS (VIVE (9464 - 9468, 9470, & 9471)).

Text of the engraved inscriptions at the exterior, obverse object surface is transcribed in full, as follows: "31E LINE 15 / THIS TREE IS DEDICATED TO / HEDWIG DIANE ORLOWSKI / 1LT. U.S. ARMY DETROIT MI / APR 13, 1944 - NOV 30, 1967"

Item Weight: 11.8g
Item Length: 17.0cm
Item Width: 2.5cm