I want to invite you to an incredibly special event: Recognizing and honoring women in the military.

Women have been serving in the armed services for many centuries. 

Just briefly, during the Revolutionary War, women served the U.S. Army in traditional roles as nurses, seamstresses and cooks for troops in camp. Some courageous women served in combat either alongside their husbands or disguised as men, while others operated as spies for the cause. More than 35,000 American women served in the military during World War I. More than 400 were killed in action.  During World War II, more than 400,000 women served in officially non-combatat roles. 88 were taken prisoner of war and 18 were killed. 

June 12, 1948 President Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act.  This established a permanent place for women in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines Corps.