Military Women's Memorial

What a way to Celebrate Military Women for #MilitaryAppreciationMonth ! Captain Zeita Merchant was promoted to Rear Admiral, making her the first woman of color to hold this rank in the 234 year history of the US Coast Guard. Thank you for leading the way for military women, Rear Admiral Merchant. We hope you will take a moment to watch the video. There is so much to celebrate and appreciate. What an inspiration! #breakingbarriers #militarywomenleadtheway https://lnkd.in/eHBXEN5f

PASS IT ON WITH MWM! May is #MilitaryAppreciationMonth and our MWM Team is doing what we love to do most - CELEBRATE MILITARY WOMEN! TO EVERY WOMAN who has stood up and stepped forward to serve, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! Our MWM Team is incredibly proud to have the privilege to honor, uplift, and celebrate you by telling your collective and individual stories of service and singing from the mountaintops our military women's contributions to our nation. HOW CAN YOU CELEBRATE MILITARY WOMEN? VISIT the Military Women's Memorial & LEARN about our military women and their service. We CHALLENGE YOU to create an MWM account (if you don't already have one) or Log in and SEARCH our MWM NATIONAL REGISTER, a database housing military women's individual stories of service, to LEARN AT LEAST 1 MILITARY WOMAN'S STORY. Get started - https://lnkd.in/eVKT9gdg PASS IT ON by sharing that military woman's story with a friend, family member, colleague, school group, or club, and ENCOURAGE THEM to to pass it on. PASS IT ON IN GRATITUDE to CELEBRATE MILITARY WOMEN for Military Appreciation Month. #WeAreMWM #militaryappreciation #militaryappreciationmonth

On Friday, May 3, World War I U.S. Army Signal Corps veteran and “Hello Girl” Marie Edmee LeRoux will make history again. When buried almost 80 years ago in an unmarked grave, she and the other “Hello Girls” were not yet recognized as veterans by the U.S. government. A Veteran grave dedication ceremony with full military honors will take place at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Md. The ceremony is open to the public and media. During World War I, women volunteered to serve in the Signal Corps, giving the American Expeditionary Forces an operational advantage to share information on the battlefields throughout Europe. The unit connected over 26 million calls from March 1918 to January 1920, including during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. But due to U.S. Title 10 laws of the time, they were not acknowledged as part of the Army at the war’s end, even though they had served in uniform and mobilized overseas. Veteran status and benefits were not granted to the group until 1977. The U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, VA, the Military Women's Memorial and the Doughboy Foundation collaborated on the headstone recognition ceremony. “It is an honor to pay our respects to Marie Edmee LeRoux,” said WWI Centennial Commission Executive Director Dan Dayton. “We hope that soon there will be another honor for her as well; the commission is advocating that Congress honor all ‘Hello Girls,’ America's first women soldiers, with a Congressional Gold Medal.” (The American Legion also supports this initiative via Resolution 110) She returned to the United States in December 1941, died on Jan. 9, 1945, and was buried at Fort Lincoln – receiving no VA headstone because she did not have veteran status. The dedication ceremony's confirmed participants include LeRoux's granddaughter, representatives from the embassies of Canada and France who will lay a wreath at the headstone, and representatives of several military honor organizations. Speakers at the ceremony, which will begin at 11 a.m. EDT, will include Dayton; VA Chief of Staff Kimberly M. Jackson; and Anthony C. Woods, secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. Phyllis Wilson, president of the Military Women’s Memorial, will emcee. “I am ecstatic all of these organizations are honoring my grandmother,” said Catherine Bourgin. “It all happened so quickly. After her being in an unmarked grave for 79 years, I was able to work with the National Cemetery Administration to get an official marker for (her) grave.” The event program also includes a brass quintet from the Doughboy Foundation that will play World War I musical selections. The Maryland National Guard Honor Guard will provide burial honors, and a bugler will sound Taps in a replica “Hello Girls” uniform. Rev. Anne Weatherholt of Epiphany Episcopal Church, the only known World War I chapel in the United States, will give the invocation and benediction.

In honor of #MilitaryAppreciationMonth, Comcast unveiled several initiatives to bolster support for veterans, service members, and military families. Learn more: https://comca.st/44oUeh9 Our team watched "The Aviators" yesterday and we loved it! Take a look by clicking on the link above. Thank you, Comcast, for all you do to support our military community. Comcast

On Sunday, Leatherstocking Honor Flight visited the Military Women's Memorial. As the women veterans stepped off the bus, their fellow veterans and guardians welcomed them to their Memorial with gratitude and gusto. Well done and well deserved! To all of our Leatherstocking Honor Flight Veterans, thank you for your service! #HerMemorial #militaryappreciation LEATHERSTOCKING HONOR FLIGHT INC

National Military Appreciation Month https://lnkd.in/evmc64T

May is one of our favorite months at the Military Women's Memorial. While we celebrate and appreciate all who have served and are serving as well as our military community every day, May is extra special as our NATION COMES TOGETHER to show our GRATITUDE FOR OUR MILITARY. Our team at the Military Women's Memorial sends our sincere gratitude to all who serve our nation. We can never thank you enough for your service and sacrifice. We hope you will take some time this month to join us at the Military Women's Memorial to learn about the women who have served and are serving our nation. Our exhibit gallery tells the collective stories of women who have served our nation from the American Revolution to today, and our MWM National Register tells the individual stories of these women. Explore, learn, honor, and remember - explore our exhibit gallery, look up a woman in our national Register and learn her story, leave your legacy and register your story of service, and take a mindful moment to remember our military women who are no longer with us. And in the days and months after your visit, we hope you will share at least one of stories of service you learned at the Memorial with a friend or family member. Pass it on in gratitude for Military Appreciation Month. #militaryappreciation #militaryappreciationmonth

HAPPY NATIONAL MILITARY BRAT DAY! April 25th was Bring Your Child To Work Day at the Pentagon. Our MWM Team was excited to be part of the day, meeting so many of our incredible military brats. We loved our time with them and seeing how they shared through their drawings and thoughts on our MWM Military Kids pages how proud they are to be military brats. Check out the wonderful photos we took of these amazing military brats. Our military kids do it all and they deserve to be celebrated every day. From missing their parents through deployments, training exercises, temporary duty, and long work hours; to multiple PCS moves and being the new kid at school and in the neighborhood A LOT; to facing challenges and being aware of real world events often well ahead of their peers; to living a life and being a part of a community, its language (acronyms!), rules, and a culture that the majority of their peers can never begin to understand or appreciate, to so much more, OUR MILITARY KIDS ROCK! They embrace every day with courage, pride, resilience, understanding, empathy, independence, ingenuity, and maturity well beyond their years. Sending our gratitude to our military brats who serve alongside their Servicemember parent/s. To all our military kids, present and past, out there, THANK YOU! We're so proud of you and all that you do and have done to support your military parent/s, the mission, and our nation. #milkids #militarybrats #milkidsappreciation #nationalmilitarybratday

MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH JOIN US on 5/29 for our BRAIN AND MENTAL HEALTH EVENT, the next installment in our Serving in Strength: A Health and Wellness Series at the Military Women's Memorial. Register - https://bit.ly/4dmOBEg BRAIN AND MENTAL HEALTH EVENT The May 29th event, in collaboration with our community partner, Moral Compass Federation, will focus on mental and brain health. Perspectives will be shared from leaders, researchers, and practitioners from across public and private sectors including participants from the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, industry, MSO/VSO's, and partner nations. Discussions will explore a wide range of current research initiatives and best practices: physical and behavioral health- traditional and non-traditional treatments; stories of personal experience; the latest on TBI research specific to women. The program will be followed by a networking reception where guests are invited to network and explore resources via informational tables throughout the Memorial’s gallery. CORPORATE PARTNERS MWM is grateful to our industry partners who make the Serving in Strength series possible: TriWest Healthcare Alliance Optum | WPS Health Solutions | AARP | Maximus Humana COMMUNITY PARTNER Moral Compass Federation https://lnkd.in/eQqbK54c

NAVY WOMEN, Questionnaire deadline extended to May 6. We need your HELP! The Military Women’s Memorial is developing an exhibit celebrating 30 years of women on combat ships. A feature of the exhibit will showcase Navy women’s impressions about their experiences during this groundbreaking event. We hope you will help us by taking time to send us a brief statement(s) related to your shipboard experience. The survey (link below or click on image) includes issues that will be addressed in the exhibit. Your experiences related to these issues will help illustrate and bring to life this pivotal time in Naval history. Your unique insights are needed by May 6. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! https://lnkd.in/evBDCUwn