Esteemed Vietnam War Journalist, Anne Morrissy Merick, Dies At Age 83
LatestVietnam War journalist Anne Morrissy Merick, a pioneer in her field, has died at age 83 from dementia-based complications.
According to the Associated Press, Merick successfully combatted the sexism that prevented women from covering the Vietnam War. Sent overseas in 1967 by her employer, ABC, she protested Gen. William Westmoreland’s order that women had to return to base every night, rather than remaining out in the field with the troops. Staying in the field was necessary for any journalist who intended to cover a combat mission.
“An edict like Westmoreland’s would prohibit women from covering the war,” Morrisy Merick wrote in War Torn: Stories of War From the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam. She co-authored the book with eight colleagues in 2002. “It was a knockout blow to our careers. We had to fight.”