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PRINTER'S NO. 486
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
50
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY SCHWANK, COSTA, BAKER, TARTAGLIONE, FARNESE,
FONTANA, DINNIMAN, KILLION, BROWNE, COLLETT, BARTOLOTTA,
FOLMER, SANTARSIERO, BREWSTER, STREET, HUTCHINSON, HUGHES,
J. WARD, AUMENT, K. WARD AND YUDICHAK, MARCH 25, 2019
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, MARCH 25, 2019
A RESOLUTION
Designating March 27, 2019, as "Female Veterans Recognition Day"
in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, 2019 marks the 71st anniversary of the full
acceptance of women as members of the United States Armed
Forces; and
WHEREAS, The history of women's service in our nation's
military ranks predates its founding; and
WHEREAS, The month of March is recognized nationally as
"Women's History Month" each year; and
WHEREAS, During the American Revolutionary War, women like
Margaret Corbin and Mary "Molly Pitcher" McCauley replaced their
fallen husbands in the battle lines, and many more, like Ann
Simpson Davis, who carried messages and supplies through enemy
lines, faced duty and sacrifice in other ways; and
WHEREAS, During the Civil War, wounded and dying troops found
care and aid from women like Clara Barton, Louisa May Alcott and
thousands of other less familiar women who diligently nursed
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them in makeshift battlefield hospitals and institutional
facilities alike; and
WHEREAS, Women of color, like Cathay Williams, freed or
escaped from enslavement, enlisted in the Civil War and fought
in the ranks by concealing their gender and serving with neither
commendation nor formal acknowledgment; and
WHEREAS, Women were first openly recruited to serve alongside
regular military units during the First World War, serving in
clerical and technical capacities and as military nurses at home
and in the battlefields of France; and
WHEREAS, Women serving during World War I still were required
not only to pay for their uniforms but also denied formal
recognition of their military service by being kept ineligible
for military discharges until long after most died; and
WHEREAS, Official military status was first obtained by women
during the Second World War in 1943 with the establishment of
the still gender-distinct Women's Army Corps (Army WAC), Women
Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (Navy WAVES), Semper
Paratus Always Ready (Coast Guard SPARs) and the Navy and Marine
Corps Women's Reserve; and
WHEREAS, In 1948, women were finally fully integrated into
the United States military with enactment of the Women's Armed
Services Integration Act, which law for the first time also
granted to women veteran benefits and privileges of service; and
WHEREAS, Today, women and men regularly and routinely serve
alongside one another in every rank, branch and component of the
United States military, with approximately 200,000 women service
members representing roughly 1 in every 10 active military
personnel; and
WHEREAS, One in ten veterans today is a female, including
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more than 71,000 of whom we are honored to have call
Pennsylvania their home; and
WHEREAS, Female military members and veterans continue to
face special challenges during and after service based on their
gender, notably including sexual assault, which one in four
female veterans seeking medical care from the Veterans
Administration report having experienced, and a higher risk than
male veterans of becoming homeless; and
WHEREAS, The competence, commitment and courage that women
have displayed, currently display and assuredly will continue to
display for our nation and for our Commonwealth should be
uplifted before all Pennsylvanians to recognize and acknowledge;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate designate March 27, 2019, as
"Female Veterans Recognition Day" in Pennsylvania; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That the Senate encourage all residents of this
Commonwealth to join in recognizing and saluting the service and
sacrifices of Pennsylvania's women veterans.
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