At last year’s inaugural event, Memorial Association program manager Jennifer Givens, a Navy veteran and the granddaughter of a World War II and Korean War veteran.
“Women have served in every major war in American history. In the Revolutionary War, you had women that dressed as men to serve, you had women that served as nurses, women that followed their husbands into combat and picked up arms when need be. So before women could vote or have any rights as citizens, they served this nation. We have always served, whether we had the right to or not.”
Today, she said, “women are advancing and able to fill almost every role in the military. … Women are just as important as their male counterparts.”