Last summer grandkids Kyle and Madison visited Washington D.C., where they went to Arlington Cemetery and the Women In Military Service For America Memorial.
There they looked up their great-grandmother (my mom), found her records, and brought back to me a nice packet including this picture, which before then I had not seen.
Her record lists:
SERVICE: Army WAC from May 29, 1944 to February 6, 1946
WAR/CONFLICTS: WWII
DECORATIONS: American Campaign Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal
MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES: I marched in a parade at Fort Benning, Georgia in a memorial service for former President Franklin D. Roosevelt who passed away. I was assigned as a parachute rigger and repairman.
She was a veteran of the military for a short time, but a veteran of many other things through her lifetime - a veteran of 42 years of marriage, a veteran mother of three, a veteran of hard work and hard times. Remembering all the veterans today, military or otherwise.
Women have served in the United States military for over two hundred years, often having had to disguise themselves as men. Female veterans have often been discriminated against by their male counterparts and, as such, women who have served in the armed forces have sometimes been known as "the invisible veterans". Women were not fully recognized as veterans until after WWII, and prior to this they were not eligible for VA benefits. The VA estimates that by the year 2010 women will make up 10% of the veteran population. ~from answers.com
Previous Veteran's Day thoughts here.
