VFW Salutes Women Veterans

Women’s History Month in March is a time to reflect on sacrifices made by female trailblazers — women who have come forward to serve even when it was not considered the norm

March 12, 2020

While VFW values the service of all veterans, March is a time to pay tribute to the women who have served and are serving our country.

Women like Sharon Ann Lane, who became the only U.S. military woman killed in action in Vietnam, or Jamie Fallon, a member of VFW Post 1503 in Woodbridge, Va., who was killed at the Pentagon in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, need always be remembered.

But so, too, do the women who did not make headlines for their service — the everyday mothers, wives, daughters and sisters who joined the military to serve with pride.

TheVFW thanks you for your service and is proud to have you in our ranks. Your membership makes us stronger.

This article is featured in the March 2020 issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Janie Dyhouse, senior editor for VFW magazine.

Member of the Women's Army Corps types correspondence during the Vietnam War

As a member of the Women's Army Corps, Spec. 4 Esther Gleaton types correspondence in 1968 as a clerk/typist in Long Binh, Vietnam.

Army 1st Lt. Phyllis Hocking checks a glucose apparatus in the 36th Evac Hospital on Dec. 24, 1944, on Leyte, Philippines.

Army captain uses her helmet as a wash basin during the Korean War

Army Capt. Jane Thurness puts her helmet to good use as a wash basin in the tent she called home in 1951 during the Korean War.

Women service members prepare to search a woman on a donkey in Afghanistan's Zabul province

Female Engagement Team members Pfc. Kelly Shutka, Pfc. Rachel Miller, interpreter Laila Khoshnaw and Sgt. Richelle Aus prepare to search a woman on a donkey in 2010 in Afghanistan's Zabul province.

Woman service member gives the go ahead sign to crew

Marine Sgt. Jessica Gonzales gives the go-ahead to the crew on a CH-53D Super Stallion helicopter on March 31, 2006, before flying from Al Taqaddum to Al Asad in Iraq.

Woman navigator aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker checks her charts

Air Force 1st Lt. Kathy Hambleton, the navigator aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, checks her charts while on a refueling flight during the Persian Gulf War.

VFW Salutes Women Veterans

Women’s History Month in March is a time to reflect on sacrifices made by female trailblazers — women who have come forward to serve even when it was not considered the norm

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