Women Veterans Recognition Day
Women’s Veterans Recognition Day is celebrated annually on June 12 in recognition of the groundbreaking 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act. This legislation opened the doors for women to permanently serve in the United States military. The following month, on July 26, 1948, President Truman also signed Executive Order 9981, mandating the desegregation of the military. The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, along with the desegregation of the military, allowed American women to officially serve in all branches of the military.
Prior to the Act, women had served in nearly every American war or conflict. Even before women were allowed to enlist in the armed forces, they served. Indeed, even before there was a United States of America, they served during the revolutionary War. Records show women alongside the Continental Army, providing essential medical, food, maintenance, and intelligence support to the soldiers. Several women acted as spies. Women also joined the fight, dressing as men to disguise their sex.
The Civil War allowed women the opportunity to officially serve as Army nurses. An approximated 3,000 women served as nurses for the Union Army during the war. Still, records show an estimated 1,000 women fought in the war disguised as men. Women also played an integral part in World Wars I and II. The U.S Army Nurse Corps was established in 1901. By 1917, at the start of World War I, there were 403 active-duty nurses; a year later there would be 3,000. These women servicemembers were deployed to France to care for Allied troops near the front lines. With so many men being sent overseas, women at home stepped up. The Navy recruited 12,000 women to perform clerical, telephone, radio, and translation work. The U.S. Army Signal Corps also enlisted women to work as telephone and switchboard operators.
During World War II, all branches of the military enlisted women. The Army formed the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs), which was later renamed and restructured to form the active duty Women’s Army Corps (WACS). The branch also formed the Army’s Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS). The Navy formed the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). The Marines enlisted women in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. The Coast Guard formed the Women’s Reserve (nicknamed “SPARS” for the Coast Guard motto, Semper Paratus, “Always Ready”). 57,000 women served in the Army Nurse Corps and 11,000 in the Navy Nurse Corps. Between all branches, nearly 350,000 women served in World War II. When the conflicts ended, however, only women nurses were allowed to continue their military service.
Following the Act, 120,000 active-duty women served in the Korean War; 11,000 women were stationed in Vietnam; 40,000 women deployed to combat zones in the Gulf War; and over 300,000 have served in Iraq/Afghanistan post-9/11. Today, women serve in every branch of the military, making up nearly 18-percent of U.S. troops.
The importance of the date was first publicly recognized by New York State in 2008. Although not yet nationally recognized, several states have passed similar legislation or proclamations. Currently, Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virgin Islands, and Wisconsin recognize and celebrate this commemorative date.