Pride in Service:
WIMSA Celebrates Fifteen Years

BY MARY BRUZZESE

The Women In Service For America Memorial (WIMSA) celebrated its fifteenth anniversary on the weekend of October 19 and 20. Located at the Ceremonial Entrance of Arlington National Cemetery, WIMSA was dedicated on October 18, 1997. The memorial honors the estimated 2.5 million women who have served in the military since the Revolutionary War. The Memorial Education Center provides a collective history of these women, and the Register—a computerized database of all servicewomen who have registered with the memorial—shares their stories. Women from all over the country from all branches and eras, ranging from World War II to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, came to celebrate their memorial and each other.

The weekend kicked off with a memorial open house and White House tours on Friday and a black-tie gala dinner that evening at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. “The speakers at the gala reinforced the women’s pride in their service,” VVA’s Women Veterans Committee Chair Marsha Four said.

The formal ceremony began on Saturday afternoon. It included music from the U.S. Army Old Guard Fire and Drum Corps, the presentation of the colors by the Armed Forces Color Guard, the singing of the National Anthem, and a welcome from president of the Women’s Memorial Foundation, retired Gen. Wilma L. Vaught.

Under Secretary for Benefits of the VA Allison A. Hickey said: “I am honored to follow the footsteps of those before us.” She listed the conflicts women have served in. After she named the Vietnam War Hickey said: “If you are a Vietnam veteran, I just want to look at you and say, ‘Welcome home.’ ” Hickey noted that many women, “when they take off their uniforms, they disappear into the fabric of America. It is my mission, and it should be yours, to get all women veterans to stand up proudly and declare themselves veterans.” Then she shouted out: “I’m an Air Force veteran, and I’m proud of my service!”

Five different servicewomen, ranging from World War II veterans to active-duty personnel, spoke of their experiences in the military. Keynote speaker Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Jessica L. Wright talked about the legacy of women in the military throughout history.

Gen. Vaught gave the closing remarks. She said that the memorial is just shy of 250,000 registered women, and encouraged all servicewomen who have not done so to register.

The ceremonies continued that evening with a candlelight march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Women’s Memorial. A service of remembrance followed, including remarks by Connecticut Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Linda Schwartz and a ceremony during which the names of the servicewomen who have died since the memorial’s tenth anniversary were read as rose petals were sprinkled into the pool of water in front of WIMSA.

Between the ceremonies women visited the memorial and with each other. Women, young and old, many decked out in their service hats, t-shirts, and jackets and vests covered with their medals and decorations, embraced, laughed, and smiled as they exchanged stories and posed for photos. The women ranged from 90-year-old World War II veterans helped along by their children to active-duty servicewomen with their civilian husbands and toddlers by their sides. The camaraderie they all felt was clearly visible.

Although women in the military today are generally viewed with the same respect as their male counterparts, Diana Werts, an Army veteran who served in 1955-58, noted that women in the military were not always viewed so favorably. “It used to almost be like people looked down on us,” she said. “No one understood why we would possibly want to serve in the military.”

Gen. Vaught fought hard for a memorial recognizing the service of women in our nation’s history. “The primary purpose of the memorial, in addition to paying tribute to the women, is to tell their stories,” she said.

The women veterans celebrating WIMSA’s anniversary understood the importance of the memorial in making the contributions of women visible. Peggy Bowe, a VVA life member who served with the Army for twenty-four years, said: “The memorial recognizes that we exist and that our service made a difference. Before this we were just an asterisk.”

Often, Gen. Vaught said, although women feel pride during their service, they don’t feel the same sense of pride afterward as men do. But coming to the memorial changes that. “They come here feeling that way, and when they come out they feel differently,” she said. “And it allows them to share that feeling with other women. It has given them pride in their service that they didn’t get anywhere else.”

To register with WIMSA, contact the Registration Department at 703-533-1155; 800-222-2294; regdept@womensmemorial.org or visit their website.