Hundreds of thousands of American women served in the armed forces during World War II, the Korean war, and the Vietnam war. However, the unique challenges those women faced and the sacrifices they made have not always been recognized.
Now a special group of women is embarking on the trip of a lifetime, to be honored in Washington, D.C. this Spring as part of the first all-female Honor Flightfor Colorado.
Among them is 86-year-old Anita Hanson, a veteran marine with a lifetime of stories to tell.
Anita shared her book of memories with us where we learned that she enlisted straight out of high school and attended boot camp at Parris Island. Anita explains, "Made some of the best friends of my life. It was a wonderful time." From there Anita went on to Camp Pendleton where she went from a Private to a Sergeant.
Anita can recall more details from her days between the Vietnam and Korean conflict than most remember from yesterday. She will be one of 30 veterans to take part in Southern Colorado‘s first-ever all-women’s Honor Flight to our nation's capitol, where these often unrecognized heroes will see the monuments built to honor their sacrifice and service to our country.
Cindy Long, the president of the board of Honor Flight of Southern Colorado is spearheading this all-women's flight and explains, "We have a lot of women veterans in Southern Colorado and their experiences are so uniquely different from the men that served. To allow them to have this together and talk about their experiences and to honor their contributions because they served at a time where it really wasn’t that common, so we want to make sure we can honor that service."
Anita has two names she’ll be looking for on the Vietnam wall and visiting the Korean memorial in honor of her late husband who was drafted at that time. Even though Anita is not much of a fan of flying she is excited for the opportunity to do it with her female comrades, "It’s just wonderful to get their stories, what they’ve done and how they entered the service and why they did."
This is an all-expense paid trip for the veterans that relies entirely on donations. You can helpour veterans from the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam eras get the chance to have this experience.
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