Friday, May 14, 2010
Women in Military Service for America Memorial (U.S. Air Force photo/Donna Parry)
A memorial dedicated to all American women who have served their country is in need of funding, as many of its most dedicated supporters from World War II are dying off. Upkeep of the memorial, which is located in Arlington National Cemetery, costs $2.7 million a year. However, the annual congressional appropriation is only $1.6 million. Dedicated in 1997, the drive for the memorial came from female veterans of WWII, during which about 400,000 women served in the armed services.
Things have been “iffy” for the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, says retired Air Force Brigadier General Wilma Vaught, 80, a Vietnam veteran and president of the board of directors, who hopes a new generation of female soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan will step up and take over paying for and caring for the memorial.
The memorial includes a registry with the biographies of about 241,000 of the 2.4 million women who have served in the U.S. military.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Women of War Fight to Keep Stories Alive (by Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press)
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