On this Veterans’ Day, let’s spare a thought for the forgotten veterans: the women who served in Vietnam—overlooked by the military while they served in-country; scorned by their neighbors; neglected by their government when they returned.

“Little is known about the long-term health and mental health status of women Vietnam Era Veterans,” the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs wrote. This was in 2011, nearly 40 years after the war. “For many of these women, the effects of this war are still present in their daily lives.”

What do we know about the women who served in Vietnam?

About 90% of them were nurses.

The names of eight of them are on the Vietnam Wall.

The most famous woman who served in Vietnam was fictional: Colleen McMurphy, the character Dana Delany played in the TV series “China Beach.”

But she was based on the stories and memories of a real person: Lynda Van Devanter, who wrote Home Before Morning, the first and perhaps most scorching memoir by a military nurse of her time in Vietnam.

The most shocking thing

I spent over a decade researching the women who had served in Vietnam, interviewing them, listening to their stories. The most shocking thing I learned is that a large number of them had never told anyone about their experiences. Not a parent, not a best friend, not a spouse.

“I don’t speak about Vietnam, and most people in my world don’t even realize I’m a veteran,” a nurse named Chris Banigan, who had served two tours, told me. “I prefer it that way.”

Based on these years of immersion, I wrote a novel, Her Own Vietnam. It is the story of two Army nurses who served in Vietnam, one white and one African American, who reconnect 30 years later to consider what it truly means to survive a war.

In the four years since the novel was published, and indeed during most of the years preceding it, the U.S. has been in a state of perpetual war.  The number of active-duty military members in the U.S. has remained at around 1.3 million, with another 800,000 or so in the reserves. Since the end of the Vietnam War, the number of women in the military has hovered at around 200,000  to 250,000 per year.  The share of women among the U.S. veteran population is projected to increase from 9.4% in 2015 to 16.3% in 2043.

Long ago the United States shifted from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. We sell products, but for the most part we no longer make them. The one thing we produce with regularity is veterans.

Today is for them. All of them, even the ones we usually forget.