From the women who volunteered to care for the Minuteman during the American Revolution, to Loretta Walsh – the first women to enlist in the military in 1917, to the appointment of Ann Durwoody as the Army’s first four-star general in 2008, women continue to shatter the armed forces glass ceiling.
Judy Simms, left, and Nan Delpapa, right, greet Margaret Green-Witt. A World War II WAC and Army veteran, Green-Witt was a secretary in Gen. Douglas McArthur’s headquarters in the Philippines.
Their accomplishments, and the countless other women who have served their country, were celebrated by the American Legion Auxiliary’s Chapter 347 at its Monday afternoon luncheon, at American Legion Post 347.
Some 100 women veterans, including one who served in World War II, along with 80 of their guests listened to keynoter Dr. Carol Wolf Flack talk about her experiences as a Navy physician.
After college, Dr. Flack received an Armed Forces Scholarship that led her to Pennsylvania State’s College of Medicine. Upon graduation and receiving her commission, she eventually served for four years at the Army’s Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Today, as a Board-Certified internist, she practices internal medicine at the Veteran Administration’s Outpatient Clinics in Leesburg, Ocala and in The Villages.
Dr. Flack talked about her father, a World War II veteran who received a Bronze Star in the Philippines; how she met her husband also in the Navy while stationed in San Diego, and also about her two children: one in the Navy and the other in the Army.
“Today’s luncheon honors these women who choose to be in the military,” explained the program’s coordinator Carol Pirone-Udell, who is a past chapter president and now serves as Sixth District President.
“It is important that we recognize their evolution from non-combat roles to carrying a rifle, fighting side-by-side with men,” she said.
