Special Pinning Event At Arlington’s Military Women’s Memorial Kicks Off
2023 Virginia Women Veterans Week March 19-25
(Arlington, Va.) Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears and First Lady Suzanne S. Youngkin kicked off Virginia Women Veterans Week 2023 with a special ceremony on Monday, March 20 at the Military Women’s Memorial in Arlington.
The Honorable Craig Crenshaw, Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs; Daniel Gade, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services; the Honorable Kathleen Murphy; Virginia House of Delegates; Phyllis Wilson, President of the Military Women’s Memorial, and other government and military officials gathered at the Memorial to honor and recognize women military veterans from throughout the Commonwealth and present them with “Virginia Women Veterans Lead the Way” lapel pins.
March 19-25, 2023 is officially Virginia Women Veterans Week. This is the sixth consecutive year the Commonwealth has honored and recognized the more than 107,000 women veterans that call Virginia home and all women who have served our state and nation from the Revolutionary War to today. The week is part of Virginia’s month-long celebration of March as Women’s History Month. Women veterans are the fastest-growing segment of our Nation’s and Virginia’s veteran community, and Virginia is home to the largest percentage of women veterans per population of any state.
“As a proud Marine veteran myself, it is a privilege to be here to recognize the sacrifices and accomplishments of my sister Virginia veterans today,” said Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears at the ceremony. “Each of you knew the risks of enlisting in the armed forces where you might even be called upon to give up your own life, yet you bravely decided to serve your nation. Today, we salute you and say thank you.”
“Virginia’s women veterans have not only served proudly in uniform but continue to serve our Commonwealth as civilians in business, education, medicine, government, in raising families and more,” said Virginia’s First Lady Suzanne S. Youngkin. “They play a vital role in making sure Virginia is the best state for all to live, work and thrive. It is my honor to be part of this ceremony highlighting their contributions to the Commonwealth and this great nation.”
“We are pleased to host today’s event on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia here at the Military Women’s Memorial in Arlington,” said Phyllis J. Wilson, president of the Memorial “The Memorial is a tribute to America’s Servicewomen, past and present. One of our most important missions is to collect, preserve and share the stories of these servicewomen. We encourage every woman who has or is serving today to take her rightful and visible place in history by registering her service with the Memorial.”
Additional special events commemorating Virginia Women’s Veterans Week 2023 are planned throughout the state. For more information, please visit www.dvs.virginia.gov.
About the Virginia Department of Veterans Services
The Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS) is a state government agency with more than 40 locations across the Commonwealth of Virginia. DVS traces its history to 1928 and the establishment of the Virginia War Service Bureau to assist Virginia’s World War I veterans. Today, DVS assists veterans and their families in filing claims for federal veterans benefits; provides veterans and family members with linkages to services including behavioral healthcare, housing, employment, education, and other programs. The agency operates two long-term care facilities offering in-patient skilled nursing care, Alzheimer’s/memory care, and short-term rehabilitation for veterans; and provides an honored final resting place for veterans and their families at three state veterans cemeteries. It operates the Virginia War Memorial, the Commonwealth’s tribute to Virginia’s men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice from World War II to the present. For more information, please visit www.dvs.virginia.gov.
About the Military Women’s Memorial
The Military Women’s Memorial is America’s only major national memorial to honor and tell the story of the some 3 million women who have served in the nation’s defense, beginning with the American Revolution. Located at the main gate to Arlington National Cemetery, the Memorial and its 33,000 sq. ft. education center tell the collective story of military women’s service with exhibits, never-before-seen artifacts, period uniforms, rare photographs, video, programming and the like. The Register, the very heart of the Memorial, captures, preserves, and makes accessible women’s individual stories. An interactive database, the Register today houses more than 306,000 individual women’s stories. As the remarkable story of these women patriots will never be complete until every woman’s story is told, the Memorial has launched a registration campaign to add 23,000 more stories in 2023. For more information, please visit womensmemorial.org.
