House Resolution 31 - Introduced

PAG LIN

                                    H.R. ________ S.R. ________


  1  1                HOUSE RESOLUTION NO.    
  1  2            BY  ABDUL=SAMAD, FORD, H. MILLER,
  1  3                 BERRY, BURT, and THEDE
  1  4 A Resolution honoring Iowa's women military veterans.
  1  5    WHEREAS, since the Revolutionary War, over 2.5
  1  6 million women have served in the United States Armed
  1  7 Forces; and
  1  8    WHEREAS, during the Civil War, Spanish=American
  1  9 War, and World War I, while their husbands and fathers
  1 10 were in the Army, Iowa women ran the farms and the
  1 11 stores, sent food and medicine to wounded soldiers,
  1 12 and cared for wounded and sick soldiers; and
  1 13    WHEREAS, during the second World War, Fort Des
  1 14 Moines hosted the formation and first training center
  1 15 for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, later renamed
  1 16 the Women's Army Corps, training 72,000 troops and
  1 17 commissioning the first female officers for noncombat
  1 18 duty between 1942 and 1945; and
  1 19    WHEREAS, Fort Des Moines produced 118 black female
  1 20 officers and 3,656 black enlisted women by war's end,
  1 21 representing 4 percent of all Women's Army Corps
  1 22 troops; and
  1 23    WHEREAS, the women who trained at Fort Des Moines
  1 24 were the first women other than nurses to serve within
  1 25 the ranks of the United States Army; and
  1 26    WHEREAS, over 150,000 American women served in the
  1 27 Women's Army Corps during World War II, freeing
  1 28 250,000 male soldiers for combat duty in Europe and
  1 29 the South Pacific and helping in a large way to make
  1 30 the war effort successful; and
  2  1    WHEREAS, thousands of Iowa women were deployed
  2  2 during the Vietnam War and Operations Desert Shield
  2  3 and Desert Storm and served stateside in essential
  2  4 mission support roles; and
  2  5    WHEREAS, over 14,500 Iowa women continue to serve
  2  6 their country in ever increasing numbers; and
  2  7    WHEREAS, Iowa women have fulfilled the promise that
  2  8 began at Fort Des Moines by attaining high ranks in
  2  9 the military, including two Iowa women serving as
  2 10 Brigadier Generals, Janet Phipps and State
  2 11 Representative Jodi Tymeson; and
  2 12    WHEREAS, over 14,000 women veterans make Iowa their
  2 13 home today, and the Fort Des Moines Museum, which has
  2 14 been open for five years, preserves and tells the
  2 15 story of the women pioneers of Fort Des Moines; NOW
  2 16 THEREFORE,
  2 17    BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
  2 18 That the House of Representatives recognizes and
  2 19 honors the service and achievements of women veterans
  2 20 of Iowa, thanks them for their service to the United
  2 21 States of America and to Iowa, and encourages all
  2 22 Iowans to recognize the contributions of women, past
  2 23 and present, in the armed forces.
  2 24 LSB 2645HH 83
  2 25 jr/nh/5.1