Women Soldiers, Veterans Urged to Tell Their Stories

Women Soldiers, Veterans Urged to Tell Their Stories

Paratroopers prepare for an airborne operation.
Photo by: U.S. Army/Spc. Emely Opio

The Military Women’s Memorial is asking women who have served in the Army to register the details of their service in the organization’s digital database.

Approaching its 25th anniversary, the Military Women’s Memorial is located at the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery, and it is the only national memorial that honors the service of military women.

But the growing database is an online platform that is accessible from anywhere in the world.

“It is a digital database, a repository that is sort of a thumbnail sketch, a short story of each of these women that have registered,” retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Phyllis Wilson, president of the memorial and a member of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Board of Directors, said in an interview earlier this year. “We call it the heart of the memorial.”

More than 3 million women have served in uniform since the Revolutionary War, according to the Military Women’s Memorial, which intends to honor all of them with contributions from the families of women who have served, battle buddies, and soldiers, NCOs and officers from all of the services who have served or are currently serving.

Close to 300,000 women have registered the details of their service, Wilson said, with more than 6,000 registering since January when the Military Women’s Memorial kicked off its registry campaign. Over the coming year, the organization wants to expand that by at least 100,000.

Registration is free, and the online registration portal is on the Military Women’s Memorial home page.

Visit www.womensmemorial.org to register your story.