Governor Proclaims Women Veterans Day 2024

WOMEN VETERANS DAY

2024

BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, women in North Carolina have been involved in military-related activities since the Revolutionary War; since June 12, 1948, women have been officially allowed to serve in the U.S. Military and now serve as regular and permanent members of the armed forces in the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Space Force; and

WHEREAS, women began serving with the Army Nurse Corps in 1901 and the Navy Nurse Corps in 1908; during World War I, women such as Anna Maria Gove, a physician and faculty member at what is now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, left their domestic duties to serve in Europe from 1917-1918; and

WHEREAS, during World War II, the role of women in the military expanded to include women serving in additional jobs including stenographers, clerks, cooks, telephone operators, mechanics, draftsmen, interpreters, and weather observers; and

WHEREAS, more than 50 members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS), the first women to fly American military aircraft, trained at Camp Davis in Onslow County, transporting every type of military aircraft and cargo; they logged over 60 million miles in the air and lost 38 members during the war; and

WHEREAS, women during the Vietnam War served on the front lines as doctors and nurses, and a total of eight female members of the military and 59 civilian women lost their lives during the conflict; and

WHEREAS, during the Gulf War, women served in multiple positions that had previously been reserved for men, flying helicopters, driving, manning missile placements, and leading convoys; and

WHEREAS, for many years, women in our military were largely invisible and underappreciated; we owe deep gratitude to our current and past servicewomen who have selflessly served to protect our nation and our way of life;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim June 12, 2024, as “WOMEN VETERANS DAY” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.

________________________________________

Roy Cooper

Governor

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this sixth day of June in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.