[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10917-S10918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             WOMEN IN MILITARY SERVICE TO AMERICA MEMORIAL

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to those whose 
service has at long last been recognized by their country. I am 
speaking, of course, of those women who have served their country in 
uniform. This past weekend, women veterans converged in Washington for 
ceremonies dedicating the Women in Military Service to America 
Memorial.
  Two million women have stepped forward to serve in every conflict 
from the American Revolution to Desert Storm. This is a surprising fact 
when you look around Washington, DC, with its many monuments to 
American military heroes and battles--generally men on horseback.
  The Women in Military Service to America Memorial, thanks to the 
dauntless effort of retired Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, has finally become 
a reality. It will serve as a permanent reminder that the words ``duty, 
honor, country'' are not merely the motto of West Point cadets; they 
are part and parcel of citizenship in this great Nation. They certainly 
are not gender specific.
  Today, there are over 1 million women who are veterans of our Armed 
Forces; and 14 percent of the U.S. military are women, many of whom 
have made military service a career.
  These are women who have nursed the wounded and comforted the dying; 
they have flown aircraft; they have delivered the mail; they have 
requisitioned and moved supplies; they have maintained equipment; they 
have gathered and assessed intelligence; they have managed offices and 
pushed paperwork.
  They have braved every condition and suffered every deprivation. They 
have been prisoners of war; they have been wounded; and many have 
offered the ultimate sacrifice of their lives for the Nation.
  A person who serves in our Nation's Armed Forces is a citizen who has 
sworn to step into harm's way to defend freedom. Male or female, we owe 
our veterans a debt of gratitude for taking on these risks.
  With the dedication of the Women in Military Service to America 
Memorial, we are finally recognizing the contributions of women in our 
Armed Forces.
  I want to pay special tribute to the many women of Utah who have 
served. Utah's population includes more than 6,000 women veterans.
  During the First World War, the Red Cross made desperate pleas for 
qualified nurses to staff the hospitals for the troops. One-fourth of 
the nurses in Utah at the time offered their skills and joined the 
effort. I think it is of particular note that, although Utah women had 
the right to vote, other women volunteered for military service in 
World War I before they could even vote.
  And yet, they served under brutal conditions.
  Mabel Winnie Bettilyon of Salt Lake City worked at an evacuation 
hospital in France where she faced an unrelenting patient load. During 
one night, more than 800 wounded American soldiers came into the 
hospital, and she was assigned to care for 136 of them.
  Ruth Clayton called her service in France ``the most important 
experience of my life'' because, she said, ``I was able to help.'' She 
worked in a mobile medical unit caring for soldiers wounded by gas 
attacks, many suffering from horrifying disfigurement. She held the 
hands of the dying and strengthened the weak. They ate sitting in the 
mess tent on a wooden coffin. Upon Clayton's return, she went on, as so 
many others did, to a distinguished nursing career at home.
  During World War II, Mary Worrell of Layton, UT, was among a select 
group of women who were trained to fly military cargo planes. Although 
relegated to the copilot's chair, these women proved their bravery and 
skill. Worrell trained as a Navy transport airman, a WAVE, flying the 
B-54 in alternately hot or cold unpressurized cabins. One of her 
assignments was to distribute the balance of weight in the plane. She 
recalls directing passengers to stand in the front of the plane for 
take off, or have them crouch in the tail depending on conditions. 
Today, Worrell helps educate and inspire visitors as a volunteer at the 
Hill Aerospace Museum in Utah.
  Other women became Women Airforce Service Pilots [WASP's]; 25,000 
women volunteered for the program to compensate for the shortage of 
pilots; 1,037 were accepted and completed the

[[Page S10918]]

training to become full-fledged pilots, delivering bombers from factory 
to the troops in Europe during the 1940s. They flew every kind of 
mission except combat. Because they were not officially part of the 
military, there were no bands or benefits awaiting them at the 
completion of their service. In fact, 39 of them lost their lives, and 
families and friends paid for the return of their remains. Not until 
1977 were these women finally recognized and granted veterans status.
  Efforts to integrate more women, to incorporate those military groups 
who had served as auxillaries, grew during the Korean war. Barbara 
Toomer is a Utah veteran of the Army Nurse Corps during the Korean 
conflict, when the total enrollment of women in the armed forces was at 
just 4 percent.
  Their sacrifice does not always end with their military tours of 
duty, nor does their struggle for respect. When Veda Jones, a disabled 
Vietnam-era veteran, sought to work with her local service 
organization, the local commander pointed her in the direction of the 
auxillary. Undaunted, Jones persisted. She recalls thinking, ``I'm 60 
percent disabled. I am a Vietnam-era veteran. I did my time--22 years 
on active duty. I belong with the main body.'' Ten years later, Jones 
was installed as the president of this 5,400 member organization. The 
veterans of Utah have looked to her leadership, and she has unfailingly 
been found at her post. She has been an inspiring champion on behalf of 
veterans, working tirelessly to assist with veterans' employment and 
health issues in Utah today.
  When the country called many reservists to active duty during the 
gulf war, there were many Utahns, men and women, who answered the call. 
We hold the ideals of patriotism and service dear in Utah. With 6,000 
members in the Army Reserve and 1,500 members in the Air National 
Guard, Utah has more units per capita than any other State. Brigham 
Young University in Provo, UT, has one of the few all-female Army ROTC 
units in the Southwest, a unit that has distinguished itself already as 
a force to be reckoned with.
  As is the case throughout today's military, women hold key leadership 
positions and comprise vital elements of the units, proving not only 
that women have the skills to be full players in the defense of our 
Nation, but also that they have the same motivation for service as 
their male colleagues.
  The women veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam 
have opened the doors of opportunity for those Utah women on active 
duty today--as near as Hill Air Force Base or as far away as Europe, 
Korea, or on board ship.
  The memorial dedicated last Saturday tells the stories of individual 
women, and it tells the story of a nation. Remember the women of the 
Revolutionary War and Civil War who disguised themselves as men in 
order to serve. Remember the women who worked as spies for the Army or 
nurses on the battlefield. Remember your grandmothers dodging fire as 
ambulance drivers in World War I, or your mothers staffing essential 
supply depots during World War II and Korea. Remember the women who 
worked in intelligence units in Vietnam or as helicopter pilots in the 
Persian Gulf. Today, military women are serving aboard ships and flying 
the space shuttle.
  I will look forward to visiting this beautiful and fitting memorial; 
and, when I do, I will think of Mamie Ellington Thorne, Mabel Winnie 
Bettilyon, Mary Worrell, Barbara Toomer, and Veda Jones, among so very 
many others. I will think of those now serving and be grateful to them 
as well as to their male colleagues for keeping this country safe.
  May the Women in Military Service to America Memorial stand to remind 
future generations of these noble women who, like their brothers, have 
given up certain comforts of civilian life, have volunteered to go to 
far flung places around the globe, and put themselves at risk to 
advance the cause of freedom.

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