Her Service Matters!
Honoring America’s Servicewomen at the Military Women’s Memorial
BY DELYN WINTERS
Joaquina Sotomayor, TSgt, USAF (Ret) Foundation Ambassador for Military Women Memorial Colorado.
Photo by James Daigle
IF you visit Arlington National Cemetery, you will likely drive by the Military Women’s Memorial (MWM), never realizing that, unlike many monuments in Washington DC, it’s not just a wall. It’s so much more! Inside the Memorial is a fully curated museum with exhibits illustrating the experiences of women who have defended the United States, from the American Revolution to the present day.
It’s also an education center, supported by a world-class archive and research library maintained by the Memorial Foundation, the nonprofit responsible for its operation and maintenance. Most importantly, it is a repository staffed primarily by full-time employees dedicated to preserving the names and stories of America’s servicewomen.
The Military Women’s Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery
And it’s not just famous veterans or high-ranking military women whose stories deserve to be told. Any woman who has served in or with the Armed Forces—even if only for a few years—deserves to be included, as each one of them volunteered to serve. Every servicewoman’s experience, regardless of length or rank, adds depth and meaning to the greater story of women in the military.
Every woman who served can—and should—have her information preserved in the Memorial’s database, visible on a digital “story card” featuring not only her picture and years of service, duty stations, awards and decorations, but also a personal story about her time in service, told in her own words if possible.
Joaquina Sotomayor’s digital "story card" displays her photo, years of service, duty stations, awards and decorations, and the personal story she chooses to share. Photos courtesy of MWM.
Since the groundbreaking ceremony on June 22, 1995, the Military Women’s Memorial has employed volunteers in every state to represent the Memorial. These ambassadors connect with thousands of servicewomen across America to gather their stories and service information for the Register, the Memorial’s database, ensuring each takes her rightful and visible place in history for all time, receiving the recognition they deserve.
Colorado’s ambassadors include veterans Kathy Dennis, Amy Demenge, Annette Johnson and Joaquina Sotomayor, each of whom actively registers eligible women into the MWM Register.
For Sotomayor, her involvement began at the Memorial’s groundbreaking ceremony in June 1995, a pivotal moment that continues to resonate with her today. Reflecting on her experience, she recalls, “While on active duty at Andrews Air Force Base, I was directed to oversee other active-duty personnel escorting high-ranking officials and guests during the groundbreaking ceremony, officiated by then-President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton. As the president moved through the crowd to shake hands, I saw a WWII nurse of African American descent in a wheelchair, overshadowed by the crowd. I made my way to her, asked those in front to step aside, and wheeled her to the president. He stooped down, took her hand in his, said a few words, then moved on. She was ecstatic! As I escorted her back to her group’s bus, she kept exclaiming, ‘Did you see? The president shook my hand. Who would ever imagine that the president would shake my hand? My hand!’”
Equally impactful, during pre-dedication preparations in October 1997, upon learning that then-Technical Sgt. Sotomayor traveled from her duty station in the Azores on her own “time and dime” to be there, Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, then-president of the Memorial, placed her near the front, where Sotomayor watched the dedication from the fifth row in a crowd of more than 40,000. If she hadn’t been convinced before, she knew now that the MWM was where she belonged.
Since then, Sotomayor has networked tirelessly at veterans events, support groups, VFW posts, conventions and through one-on-one outreach to ensure as many servicewomen’s stories as possible are preserved at the Military Women’s Memorial. Reflecting on what drives her, Sotomayor said, “The WWII nurse in the wheelchair and Brig. Gen.Wilma Vaught forever touched my heart, beginning a deeply personal journey. One of Brig. Gen. Vaught’s long-used quotes—‘What we don’t record, we lose,’ has been a guiding thought for me. I have repeated it often.”
Asked if there are special programs she is passionate about, Sotomayor explained, “The Living Legend Program highlights military women whose stories of service provide inspiration and example for all to appreciate. These stories help increase public awareness of women’s contributions to America’s national defense and deserve special recognition.
Living Legend proclamations can be issued for any of the following reasons:
Women veterans reaching their 100th birthday
Women whose stories of service are particularly inspiring — not necessarily because she achieved a rank or accomplished a ‘first,’ but because of her commitment to serve and how that service guided or inspired her life and the lives of others, even after discharge
Retirement from a career of notable service
Colorado’s first proclaimed Living Legend was 1st Lt. Eleanor Burcky, a former WWII Army Nurse Corps officer, and the latest is a nurse who served in Vietnam. To date, 11 Coloradoans have been proclaimed Living Legends.
Ret. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Phyllis J. Wilson, current president of the Military Women’s Memorial, has her own interesting story. She served for 37 years in the US Army Reserve as an intelligence analyst. While working at the Pentagon in 2013, she discovered the Memorial in an unexpected way—while attending a friend’s promotion party held there.
Reflecting on that first visit, she said, “I walked inside, and it gave me goosebumps. All of these stories about military women—I thought, how did I not know? I’m one metro stop away and have been for several years! I never knew this place existed. And then I learned about their effort to have every woman who ever has or is serving to have her story of service included in the Memorial’s database. So, within a month, I started putting my story into this online database. And then I started spending a little bit more time walking through and seeing the artifacts and the videos and all of this.” She was hooked. Wilson became an ambassador for the Memorial in 2016 and, shortly thereafter in 2018, its president.
The interior of the Military Women’s Memorial showing one of many exhibits and one of four stairwells that lead to an upper terrace, which breach the original wall and roof, symbolizing women breaking through the glass ceiling and barriers in the military. Photo courtesy of MWM.
The Memorial needs everyone’s help. Of the roughly 3 million women who have served, only about 326,000 have stories archived at the Memorial. Every woman’s service and every woman’s story is important to women’s history, military history and American history!
The Military Women’s Memorial is America’s only major memorial to honor and tell the story of women’s service to the nation. To learn more, check out “25 Years of the Military Women’s Memorial” on YouTube.
If you are or know a military woman, past or present, living or deceased, register your and/or her story of service at womensmemorial.org or call 703-533-1155 to get connected with your local ambassador.
There is no fee to register, and you or the woman you are registering will be joining the legions of military women whose stories are a part of history, not lost to history.