What do you think of when you hear the word Veteran? For most people, they see the elderly gentleman with a baseball cap that reads WWII Veteran.
But there are more than 6,000 women veterans in Utah. In the last 103 years women have gone from not being able to legally serve their country to being able to be fighter jet pilots.
Even though these women served their country with honor, their service is often forgotten. Anne Sosh Brehm, a first lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II said, “Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom. That our resolve was just as great as the brave men who stand among us. And with victory, our hearts were just as full and beat just as fast — the tears fell just as hard for those we left behind.”
As a veteran of the Army after having served for 27 years, I am often asked when people see my disabled veteran plates if my husband was injured in the military. I usually reply back, “Yes, but not as badly as I was.”
Commercials on television for services for our veterans often only depict men. In an effort to recognize and honor our local women veterans, I will be hosting a “Hats Off to Lady Veterans” tea on June 12 at 2 p.m. at the Spanish Fork Senior Center, 167 West Center Street.
If you are or know of a woman veteran, please let them know about this event so they can be properly recognized and honored for the valuable service they gave to this country.
June 12, 2021 is the 73rd anniversary of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948. While Women were legally able to enlist in the military in 1918, it was only for the duration plus six months. Thirty more years and another war passed before women could have a career in the military and receive most of the same rights as men who served. (Serve Daily submission.)
