[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 1995)]
[Pages 1096-1098]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Women in the Military 
Service Memorial

June 22, 1995

    Thank you very much. Thank you, General Mutter. Thank you to all the 
fine active duty and veteran women, servicepeople who have just 
speaken--spoken. Speaken! I can't even talk, I'm so excited. [Laughter]
    I'll tell you, when our wonderful World War I veteran got through 
talking, I thought there's no point in my saying a word. It has all been 
said. I thank all the members of our military, beginning with the 
Secretary of Defense, the Service Secretaries, General Shalikashvili, 
the Joint Chiefs, those who preceded them--I see General Powell and 
others here--for their support of this endeavor. I thank the Members of 
Congress who are here. General Vaught, I thank you for your 
determination. I don't believe that anyone in the United States could 
have said no to you on any important matter; I know I couldn't. And I 
congratulate you on this triumph of your vision and will.
    To all the remarkable servicewomen who surround me here, out in the 
audience and on the podium, let me say to all of you: Thank you for your 
service to America. We are all proud to be here to break ground on a 
memorial that will recognize a contribution that you have made far 
beyond the call of duty.
    Women have been in our service, as has been said, since George 
Washington's troops fought for independence, clothing and feeding our 
troops and binding their wounds. They were in the struggle to preserve 
the Union as cooks and tailors, couriers and scouts, even as spies and 
saboteurs. Some were so determined to fight for what they believed that 
they masqueraded as men and took up arms.
    Women were there during the two World Wars, and slowly, our military 
establishment that for decades had sought to limit women's

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roles brought them in to serve as WACS and WAVES, SPARS and WASPS and 
Women Marines. In our Nation's shipyards and factories, women helped to 
build democracy's arsenal. From the beaches of Normandy to the Pacific 
Islands, they endured bombs, torpedoes, disease, deprivation to support 
our fighting forces.
    Despite this history of bravery and accomplishment, for very much 
too long women were treated as second class soldiers. They could give 
their lives for liberty, but they couldn't give orders to men. They 
could heal the wounded and hold the dying, but they could not dream of 
holding the highest ranks. They could take on the toughest assignments, 
but they could not take up arms. Still, they volunteered, fighting for 
freedom all around the world but also fighting for the right to serve to 
the fullest of their potential. And from conflict to conflict, from 
Korea to Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, slowly, women have overcome the 
barriers to their full service to America.
    The past few decades have witnessed a remarkable series of firsts: 
the first woman company commander, the first female service academy 
graduate, the first woman skipper, the first female fighter pilot, the 
firsts that are here with us today. Twenty-five years ago this month, 
Anna Mae McCabe Hays became the first woman promoted to general. Hazel 
Johnson-Brown was the first minority woman to reach that rank. And 2 
years ago, it was my honor to nominate the Secretary of the Air Force, 
Sheila Widnall, to become the first woman to head one of our service 
branches. I am honored to be with all of them today.
    But just as important as these firsts are those who have followed 
them, proving that they were not an accident or an aberration, for women 
today are test pilots and drill sergeants, squadron commanders and 
admirals, academy instructors and service recruiters. I am very proud of 
the fact that during our administration almost 260,000 new positions in 
the military have been opened to women who wish to serve.
    And I might say that this is a tribute not only to the women in the 
service, but to the men in leadership positions who had the wisdom and 
the understanding and the ability to proceed with this remarkable 
transformation and strengthening of our military in a climate of 
tolerance and teamwork and respect. I know of no other institution in 
our society which could have accomplished so much in such an incredibly 
efficient and humane and professional way. And so we should be proud of 
all who played a role in that.
    And let me say, before I go further, our Nation, as you know, is 
involved now in a great debate over the subject of affirmative action. 
Before people rush to judgment, I would like to remind all Americans 
that the United States military is the strongest in the world because it 
has found a way to make the most of the talents of every American 
without regard to gender or race. And as a nation, we must continue to 
search for ways to make the most of the talents of every American 
without regard to gender or race.
    There are so many individual stories, the stories that this memorial 
will tell. But in their detail and drama, they help us understand more 
of what has occurred than the speeches we can give. Some of these women 
are here today, and I would like to ask them to stand:
    Women like June Wandrey Mann who volunteered for the Army Nurse 
Corps in the Second World War, who served 2\1/2\ years overseas from 
primitive field hospitals in Tunisia and Italy, to a center for 
concentration camp survivors outside of Munich. In her courage and 
caring, Lieutenant Wandrey represents the best of America. Would you 
please stand. [Applause] Thank you. And I might add, you still look 
terrific in your uniform.
    Women like Charity Adams Earley, who was mentioned earlier, the 
Women Army Corps' first African-American officer. Along with thousands 
of other African-American veterans, both men and women, she helped our 
Nation act on a truth too long denied, that if people of different races 
could serve as brothers and sisters abroad, surely they could learn to 
live together as neighbors at home. Colonel, would you please stand. 
[Applause.] And I might add, she gives a resounding speech.
    Women like U.S. Air Force Captain Teresa Allen Steith of the 60th 
Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force Base in Califor- 

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nia, who was among our first soldiers to set down in Haiti last year, 
and who, for 3 months, helped planes and troops and cargo move in and 
out of the Port-au-Prince airport. Because she and the rest of our 
troops did their job so well, the people of Haiti now remarkably have a 
second chance at democracy. And this Sunday--this Sunday--they will be 
going to the polls to exercise their newfound rights for the first time 
in 5 years. And this time, they won't be stolen from them, thanks to 
people like you, Captain. Thank you very much, and God bless you.
    Women like Barbara Allen Rainey, the mother of two daughters, the 
Navy's first female aviator. Tragically, the victim of a training crash, 
her story reminds us that even in peacetime, those who wear the uniform 
face danger every day. Now she rests just behind me in the quiet of 
these sacred grounds.
    This memorial will tell the stories of these women and hundreds of 
thousands more. It makes a long overdue downpayment on a debt that we 
will never fully repay, a debt we owe to generations of American women 
in uniform who gave and continue to give so much to our country and a 
debt we owe yet to future generations of women who will in the future 
dedicate their own lives to the defense of our freedom.
    May this memorial say to each and every one of them: We cherish your 
devotion; we admire your courage; we thank you for your service.
    God bless you, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:10 p.m. at Arlington Cemetery. In his 
remarks, he referred to Maj. Gen. Carol Mutter, USMC, Commander, Marine 
Corps Systems Command, and Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, USAF (ret.).