Nov 5, 2009 6:11 pm US/Eastern
Women Vets Honor The Past & Look Ahead
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Today generations of female veterans celebrated women in the military and honored Michelle Wilmot of Gardner, the state's Outstanding Woman Veteran of the Year. They gathered at the State House for a ceremony.
Wilmot was one of the first women who served in Team Lionness, a group of female soldiers who worked with U.S. Marines to search women and children in Iraq at checkpoints and during raids.
Wilmot told WBZ, "I'm happy that we're making progress and that women are making such great strides in military history and in history in general, and I'm honored to be a part of that history."
Margaret McNally and her friend Marie Knowles came from Framingham for the ceremony.
McNally served as a Lieutenant in the WAVES, Women Accepted For Volunteer Emergency Service, in World War II. She says when she was stationed in Boston during the war, she helped with the surrender of a German U-Boat, by bringing up paperwork to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. But she says when her captain asked officials in Washington if McNally could go and accept the surrendered boat, they said no because she was a woman. "I felt kind of left out. I felt it shouldn't have made any difference that I was a woman."
She says progress has been made. "We were only able to do the work of men on shore, but today they can fly planes and captain ships at sea."
Knowles, who is 98-years old, served as a Lieutenant Commander the Navy's Nurse Corps. She says, "I went into the Navy four years before the war even began. At a time when no women were in the nurse corps."
She says she joined the Navy in 1938 see more of the country and the world. "I saw an advertisement in the back of the nurse's journal... so I wrote to Washington and said I was interested." She says, "There are many more openings for women now. When I went in, there weren't that many. The world has changed a great deal."
Michelle Wilmot says her service in Team Lionness has also been a step forward. "I think there's more to go and we're not done yet. I think women are going to keep pressing forward until we can get into different roles, and Lionness pretty much proves that we can operate in combat roles."
Wilmot and the other women vets believe more progress should be made. "I'm happy that we're making progress, and that women are making such great strides in military history, and in history in general, and I'm honored to be a part of that history."
She believes women should be able to serve in any military role. "Integrity, courage self sacrifice has nothing to do with gender, and I think anybody is capable of it."
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