National Women Veterans Recognition Day

June 12, is National Women Veterans Recognition Day.

As explained by the VA, this is not a Veterans Day just for women, but a celebration of the signing of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act in 1948, which was significant in that is allowed women the right to permanently and fully serve in the regular armed forces (and to be recognized as veterans after doing so).

Prior to the signing of this act, military women (save for nurses) were sent home after each conflict. Many were not treated as veterans who served their nation, but like civilians. They were often denied the rights and benefits afforded to men who’d served beside them, simply because of their gender. The act “deemed women essential to war efforts and allowed them to serve in the regular armed forces full time,” (Missina Schallus, VA news).

Women have served in conflicts and wars throughout America’s history, including the Civil War and the Revolutionary War, in positions as nurses and support staff (and even as spies!). Centuries ago, some women even presented themselves as men to be able to serve, including Revolutionary War soldier (and official State Heroine of Massachusetts) Deborah Sampson, who was honorably discharged from West Point after her true sex was revealed during a medical exam about a year and a half into her military service.

A PROMINENT MEMBER OF THE VFW
In 1898, Theresa Erickson was notably the first female U.S. Army nurse to serve in the Philippines, which she did for three years, and when war with Mexico seemed a certainty in 1916, she again enlisted and was sent to the border. After a hiatus for medical reasons, she returned to the military and was sent to France, where she remained on active duty until armistice was declared on November 11, 1918. Back home, she joined VFW Post 7 in Minnesota and became an active member. (VFW membership was open to women after World War I, but closed in 1944, not to reopen again until 1978). Erickson once said, “I have enjoyed every minute I have given to the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ work, and I feel that I have benefitted from it.”

Despite her service in three conflicts and an honorable discharge, being a woman meant that Erickson could not collect a veterans’ pension or disability benefits.

DURING WORLD WARS I AND II & THE KOREAN WAR
During World War I, 20-year-old Loretta Walsh became the first to officially enlist in the U.S. military in a position unrelated to nursing. The United States Navy Memorial documents her swearing in as Chief Yeoman in 1917, at which time she became “the first woman Chief Petty Officer in the Navy.” Walsh served honorably and was recognized as a veteran upon her return, but tragically passed away from influenza and tuberculosis at the age of 29.

During World Wars I and II, a combined 385,000 American women officially served, some of whom, upon returning home, joined the VFW Auxiliary under their own eligibility. Women veterans have also served in many positions in the VFW Auxiliary, including as National District Council Members, Department Presidents and even as National Secretary-Treasurer from 1949-1954; that was Eleanor Grant Rigby, who served the United States during World War II and retired from the Navy in 1955.

VFW ELIGIBILITY & DUAL MEMBERS
In 1977, VFW Commander-in-Chief John Wasylik, who spoke of his experiences serving under heavy fire alongside Army nurses in Korea, moved that eligible women veterans be permitted to join the VFW and given “full membership status,” but this was voted down. At National Convention the following year, Wasylik stated, “It is only right that everyone with a campaign ribbon be eligible for membership.”

This kicked off a debate that continued for two hours, and by the end, the membership voted 9,745 to 4,011 to allow women to join.

Those who did just that included Vietnam Veteran Priscilla Landry Wilkewitz of Louisiana, who then became the first woman to serve as VFW Post Adjutant-Quartermaster, and Patricia Potter, also a Vietnam veteran, who served as VFW Surgeon General 1994-1995.

In 1995, the first all-woman VFW Post was inaugurated: Post 11555 in Topeka, Kansas. (Source: VFW: Our First Century, 1899-1999, pg. 149.)

Throughout the 1980s, many women veterans joined the VFW on the eligibility of their service in World War II, Korea and the Vietnam War, and they were later joined by women who served in the Middle East and in other conflicts. Some of those women were already members of the VFW Auxiliary, which made them dual members.

One such member was Irene Hosking of Auxiliary 4005 in Michigan (above). Hosking served in World War II in the Army Nurse Corps, having enlisted in 1942, but when she returned home, women were not permitted to join the VFW. Her husband said if that was the case, neither of them would join, and they spent their time traveling. But after he passed, the eligibility rules had changed, so she did join the VFW and become an active member, which included one year as Post Commander and 25 years as Post Chaplain. Eleven years after joining the VFW, in 1996, Hosking joined the VFW Auxiliary. We interviewed Hosking when she was 105 years old, as did the VFW; she passed away the following year.

Then, in 2023-2024, retired Navy veteran Carla Martinez made Auxiliary history as the first VFW and Auxiliary dual member to serve as VFW Auxiliary National President. She joined the VFW Auxiliary 44 years ago and earned her VFW eligibility when serving 13 months in Korea.

(As of 2015, when we ceased to be the Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW and became the co-ed VFW Auxiliary, it is no longer possible to become a dual member; all those who exist today joined both organizations prior to the change more than a decade ago, as they were grandfathered in.)

VFW COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF BREAKS NEW GROUND
This year, VFW Commander-in-Chief Carol Whitmore has been breaking new ground as the first woman to lead the Veterans of Foreign Wars. A retired nurse, Whitmore served in the Army from 1977-2013, earning her VFW eligibility in Iraq. This deployment came 30 years into her military career; she turned 55 while serving there. Her slogan for the 2025-2026 year is For Veterans, By Veterans, and she has been embodying that since taking office last summer. She and VFW Auxiliary National President Lois Callahan have worked together to ensure all veterans – and their families! – are remembered, respected, cared for and supported, an effort that has included a considerable amount of advocacy in regard to legislation. (Read more about Whitmore here.)

JUNE 12: A SALUTE TO WOMEN VETERANS
The VA notes, “Currently, Women Veterans Recognition Day is a state-recognized commemoration. This year, the states of Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah… and Wisconsin will recognize” it, as will the Virgin Islands. (Read more here.)

Tomorrow will mark the 78th anniversary of the signing of Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, and with that in mind we salute not only these incredible women veterans aforementioned, but all women veterans, regardless of when, where, how or how long they served, or whether they reside in a state that recognizes the holiday. Thank you all.

In June of 1782, Sampson and two sergeants led about 30 infantrymen on an expedition that ended with a confrontation with Tories. She led a raid on a Tory home that resulted in the capture of 15 men.” (Source: Debra Michaels, PhD, 2015.)

Erickson was featured in a 1922 issue of Foreign Service (the VFW publication that preceded their current magazine) and the article is reprinted in the VFW’s book Our First Century: 1899-1999. “It’s the comradeship that counts,” noted Erickson.

Walsh’s tombstone monument reads, “Woman and Patriot, First of those enrolled in the U.S. Naval Service… her comrades dedicate this monument to keep alive forever memories of the sacrifice and devotion of womanhood.”