‘A dynamic, living, breathing memory card’
The research database of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation and Military Women’s Memorial currently hosts 316,000 stories, out of the 3 million women who have defended the nation since the Revolutionary War. It’s shareable, updatable and searchable by phrases like “Army,” “Vietnam” – or “American Legion.”
Phyllis J. Wilson, president of the foundation and memorial, spoke to the 105th American Legion National Convention in New Orleans on Aug. 28 about the database and efforts to both enhance it and renovate the memorial in Arlington, Va. – the only major national memorial honoring those 3 million women. Opened in 1997, it gets around 100,000 visitors a year but no federal funds; Wilson expressed her appreciation for American Legion posts and American Legion Auxiliary units that have donated money to them. Efforts now are focused on renovating the memorial, including more STEM elements, to “excite American youth” about joining the military or defense industrial base.
Another major focus is enhancing the database. Wilson, a registered nurse, served 37 years in the Army as a military intelligence voice-intercept operator, retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer 5. “I’ve always wanted to just be a soldier and not a woman soldier,” she said in a 2020 Fox News profile. She is a member of USS Jacob Jones Post 2 in Washington, D.C, founded by Charlotte Winters, a World War I veteran who had been refused membership in other posts. Wilson called database entries “a dynamic, living, breathing memory card.” And they can be started by an individual woman veteran, or on her behalf – she told the story of a Legionnaire whose post started an entry for her after she died.
The foundation has a goal for the database of 500,000 stories, and is “actively striving” for 500 additions a year: “It’s completely achievable,” Wilson said. She has traveled to states working hard on new entries like South Carolina and Arkansas, and encountered many different stories – including that of Elizabeth Eckford, one of the “Little Rock Nine” who needed an escort to an Arkansas high school in 1957 during the integration controversy, and later served for five years in the Army as a pay clerk and information specialist.
The all-volunteer force, which when established took off the traditional 2% allowance to women, is getting close to 20%. 2024 marks the 30-year anniversary of women being allowed to serve on combatant ships. As their role in the military evolves, Wilson wants to make sure the database of women in service does too – whatever their MOS, after-service life or American Legion post.
Click here to visit or add to the database.