HR0101 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0101 LRB100 08036 MST 18121 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, According to the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, 2.5 million American women have served or are serving in the United States Armed Forces since the American Revolution; and

WHEREAS, According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, 55,000 women veterans reside in Illinois; and

WHEREAS, During the American Revolution, Margaret Corbin, dubbed "Captain Molly", became the first woman to receive a military pension; she was wounded during the defense of Ft. Washington when her husband, John Corbin, was killed and she assumed his cannon post; and

WHEREAS, During the Civil War, women served in many roles supporting military forces; they organized public relief and sanitary commissions that gathered and distributed supplies to the troops; nurses and matrons staffed government and regimental hospitals; women disguised themselves as male soldiers to fight on the front, and also served as laundresses, cooks, and spies; and

WHEREAS, During the Spanish-American War, over 1,500 women served as nurses with the Army in Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, on the hospital ship USS Relief, and in stateside hospitals; and

WHEREAS, During World War I, 12,000 women served stateside, freeing men to fight in Europe; overseas, Army and Navy nurses, volunteers with the American Red Cross, the YMCA, the YWCA, the Salvation Army, and the American Women's Hospital Service all worked together caring for the "doughboys"; over 400 women died as a result of their service; and

WHEREAS, During World War II, approximately 40,000 American military women served stateside and overseas; women served in the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and as members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots; women served in every theater of the war and in many non-traditional roles; 88 women military nurses were held prisoners of war and more than 460 women lost their lives; and

WHEREAS, The Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1958, signed by President Truman on June 12, 1948, granted women permanent status in the regular and reserve forces of the Army, Navy, Marines, and the newly created Air Force; and

WHEREAS, During the Korean War era, over 50,000 women again served both stateside and overseas; in Korea, Army nurses served in Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) and general hospitals, while Air Force nurses supported air evacuation missions, and Navy nurses served on nearby hospital ships; and

WHEREAS, During the Vietnam War, 7,000 women served in Southeast Asia; the majority were nurses assigned to military hospitals, air evacuation, hospital ships, and field units, many of them were wounded; eight women who died are memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.; and

WHEREAS, In 1970, the first woman was promoted to General after an amendment to the United States Code removed restrictions on the careers of female officers which had previously kept women from the general and flag ranks; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Defense Appropriation Authorization Act of 1976, signed by President Gerald Ford, established the admission of women into United States military academies; 119 women entered West Point, 81 entered the Naval Academy, and 157 enrolled at the Air Force Academy; women also enrolled in the Coast Guard Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 410,000 American women deployed for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, making it the single largest deployment of military women in U.S. military history; women served in all areas of the operations, with the exception of direct combat; two women became prisoners of war, and five were killed in action; and

WHEREAS, Women have participated in U.S. military operations in Grenada, Panama, Honduras, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti; laws banning women from flying in combat were repealed in 1991, and those banning women from duty on combat ships were revoked in 1993; and

WHEREAS, In March of 1996, Sergeant Heather Lynn Johnsen became the first woman to be awarded the Guard, Unknown Soldier Identification Badge, the second-least awarded badge in the Army; that same year, the first women were promoted to military three-star ranks when Navy Rear Admiral Patricia Tracey was promoted to Vice Admiral, and Marine Major General Carol Mutter was promoted to Lieutenant General; and

Whereas, Women serving in the military are deployed around the world and have supported major missions including Operation Able Sentry on the Serbian/Macedonia border, Operations Joint Endeavor and Decisive Edge, NATO missions in Bosnia, and Operations Southern Watch, Pacific Wave, and Provide Comfort, which supported the no-fly zone established against Iraq and offered humanitarian relief to Kurdish evacuees; and

WHEREAS, In 1998, for the first time, a woman fighter pilot delivered a payload of missiles and laser-guided bombs in combat; a year later, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Collins became the first woman to command the space shuttle; also in 1999, Navy Rear Admiral Evelyn Fields became the first woman and first African American to command the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps. (NOAA); in 2000, the Coast Guard promoted its first women to flag officer ranks; in 2000, Navy Lieutenant Commander Darlene Iskra became the first woman to command a Navy warship at sea; and

WHEREAS, Women were among the first troops deployed in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; when Operation Enduring Freedom was launched a month later, women were again among the first deployed; on March 23, 2003, Army PFC Lori Piestewa became the first servicewoman to be killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the first Native American servicewoman ever to die in battle; PFC Piestewa, PFC Jessica Lynch, and SPC Shoshana Johnson became prisoners of war during the early days of the operation; by the end of 2004, 19 servicewomen had been killed in Iraq as a result of hostile action since the beginning of the war; and

WHEREAS, In 2005, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester of the Kentucky Air National Guard, became the first woman to be awarded the Silver Star for combat action; she is one of 13 women to ever be awarded the Silver Star and the only woman to receive the award for combat action; the other 12 were nurses awarded for valor in World War I and World War II; and

WHEREAS, Today, an estimated 344,500 women serve in the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty, in the National Guard and Reserves, at every enlisted rank, and within the officer corps; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare November 9, 2017 as "Illinois Women Veterans Day" to commemorate the sacrifices endured and the valor displayed by American Women veterans; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, Erica Jeffries.