Your Legacy as a Veteran Matters: Share Your HERstory

Photo credit: Military Women’s Memorial

Women have played a vital role in shaping the history of military service, yet their stories often go untold. The Military Women’s Memorial, located at the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery, is changing that by preserving and sharing the legacies of more than 3 million women who have served our nation. In the air, on land, at sea, and in space. From the Revolutionary War through today. If you’re a female veteran, now’s the time to ensure your story becomes part of this HERstory.

Trailblazers like Loretta Perfectus Walsh Bowman, America’s first female Navy service member, and Shoshana Johnson, the first Black woman POW in U.S. history, paved the way for women in service. Modern veterans, such as LTC Gloria Elko, exemplify courage and resilience, balancing military excellence with personal commitments.

Your journey, too, deserves to be celebrated. By registering your story with the Military Women’s Memorial, you’re not only honoring your contributions but also inspiring future generations of women to break barriers.

MCPO Loretta Perfectus Walsh Bowman, USN Ret.
Navy Yeoman (F) 1917-1920 

Believed to be America’s first service woman, Loretta Perfectus Walsh Bowman is honored by a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker in Olyphant, PA.

In 1916, Loretta worked with the Women’s Division of the Navy League and noticed that the Navy Reserve Act of 1915 did not specify that a person needed to be male in order to volunteer for naval service and noted that many women were already providing specific services in the Navy as radio operators and clerical staff. She also found that the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, was authorized to accept women as Navy volunteers.

On March 17, 1917, Loretta enlisted as a Navy “yeomanette” at the Naval Home and recruitment office of the 4th Naval District in Philadelphia amid much media attention. This opportunity also made her the first woman to serve in a non-nursing capacity in any branch of the armed forces. Loretta’s enlistment was followed by more than 11,000 women joining the Navy and 305 joining the “Marinettes.”

Weeks later, on April 7, 1917, America entered WWI. In 1919, Chief Petty Officer Loretta Walsh contracted a terrible fiu that developed into tuberculosis. On January 8, 1920, she was transferred to the White Haven Sanatorium. In 1922, she married Fred Bowman. Her health continuing to fail, she died August 6, 1925. She is buried at Saint Patrick’s Cemetery in Olyphant.

SPC Shoshana Johnson
Army 1998-2003

Shoshana Johnson graduated from Andress High School in Northeast El Paso, Texas, in 1991 and enlisted in the Army in 1998. Although she was a member of the ROTC drill team in high school and always interested in military service, cooking was her first love.

Johnson was one of the POWs captured during Iraqi Freedom, the war with Iraq. She was an Army Specialist with the 507th Maintenance Company out of Ft. Bliss, Texas. She was the company cook. The company was ambushed by Iraqi soldiers on Sunday, March 23, 2003, near the city of Nasiriyah. At the time she was captured, she was 30 years old and a single mother of a 2-year-old daughter. SPC Johnson was a POW for 22 days.

She became the first woman POW of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the first Black woman POW in American history. Johnson and four other members of the 507th were rescued by Marines on April 13, 2003. Specialist Johnson’s father is a 20-year Army veteran and her younger sister also served in the Army.

LTC Gloria Elko
Army Medical Service Corps 2003-2023

I am proud to be the first woman in my family to have ever served in the Military, and I am second generation to serve in the Army. I am of Mexican descent (2nd generation), from El Paso, TX.

I served honorably in the Army Medical Department from May 2003 through retirement in May 2023. I specialized in Medical Operations and Healthcare Administration. The first 10 years of my career were spent overseas (Korea, Germany, Iraq, and Hawaii). I deployed and served 24 months in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2005-2006; 2008-2009). In that time, there were moments of excitement, fear, anxiety, disbelief, chaos, but above all camaraderie.

I am proud of my time in Service. I met and later married an Army AG officer through a Unit Movement Officer course in Germany and have two wonderful children, Sophia and Ethan, as a result.