Female vets honored at Women’s Veterans’ Day ceremony

June 12 is recognized as Women’s Veterans’ Day, and the Jackson-Madison County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution celebrated the day on Sunday, June 9 at the VFW post 6496 on Airways Boulevard.

“It’s important that we recognize the contributions that female members of our military have made in every war the United States has fought in,” said Jackie Utley, the president of DAR.

Madison County Commissioner Juanita Jones, a Marine vet herself, read a joint City-County proclamation, honoring female veterans and listing every conflict female soldiers have helped in. Women have served somewhere in every conflict dating back to the American Revolution.

A certificate of appreciation was given to every female veteran who was in attendance, and a pair of presentations were made as well.

Once came from Larry Newsom, the president of the James Madison chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, about Margaret Corbin, who’s recognized as the first female veteran in U.S. military history.

Corbin lived in western Pennsylvania and was one of many women who accompanied their husbands into battle in the American Revolution. Typically back then, wives with no children would go into battle with their husbands and bring them water, beer or other needs during the battle and care for the wounded.

Corbin’s story gets more consideration because after her husband was killed in battle, she took over his position of firing the cannon. But she was injured in battle with massive trauma to her arm, leg and face. She was taken to medical care and eventually recovered and made her way to West Point to care for wounded soldiers there.

Apparently her personality was abrasive and she was hard to get along with, but the soldiers who fought with her vouched for her bravery during the war and argued for her to get some kind of pension from the government since she was a widow and had no one else to take care of her. The Continental Congress approved her getting a pension half of what male soldiers got and later added a food and clothing stipend to that total.

The other presentation was made by Gloria Holiday, who’s a pastor now in Chester County but served in the United States Marine Corps from 1972 until 1994 along with her husband.

Her presentation sounded similar to one of her sermons at church and started with a shout out to those who represent each branch of the military, particularly the Marines.

Part of her time in the Marines, she was a boot camp drill instructor at Paris Island, S.C.

“Where are my Marines at?” she asked before getting into drill sergeant mode. “Attention!”

A few of the former Marines stood at attention and obeyed some of the drill commands she gave them while standing in front of their seats.

After that exercise, she got back into pastor mode and began to talk about what her career in the Marines meant for her and her family. Both she and her husband served, and their schedules didn’t give them a lot of time at home at the same time while they were raising three children.

“We were both serving, and I think that actually helped our marriage, because we were both serving at work so we both served when we came home,” Holiday said. “There were no husband’s jobs around the house of wife’s jobs around the house.

“If something needed to be done with the children or around the house and I was home, I did it. The same with my husband.”

Holiday said female soldiers in every branch had to reach a higher standard.

“We had to grade higher on every exam and test because we were women,” Holiday said. “But that’s OK. I was OK with doing it, and I know a lot of my sisters in here were OK with it too.”

All three of their children are grown now and either serve or have served in the military.

“We’re so proud of them and their accomplishments and their own willingness to serve,” Holiday said. “And I’m proud of my husband and my own service because I could’ve chosen to do something else, but serving in the military is what I wanted, and my mom told me to go do it if that’s what I wanted.

“I enjoyed it, and I know every veteran in here enjoyed their time of service.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news