Last week, my family and I spent part of our spring break touring Washington D.C. We visited Arlington National Cemetery, and, more specifically, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. The structure is more than just a memorial, though; it also serves as a small museum dedicated to all women, past and present, who have served in the American military.
Women in Military Service for America Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
As I've mentioned before on this blog, my maternal grandmother, Dina Licciardi Bellan served in the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS during World War II. Unfortunately, she passed away several months before this memorial was opened, so she never got to see it. We took our kids to the memorial to look around. I stumbled upon their Register room, where patrons are able to look up service women on computer. I typed in my grandmother's name, and there was her record. The record included her dates of birth and death, along with service dates, rank, birthplace, and military decorations she received. There was ALSO a photo of her in her SPARS uniform that I had never seen before. I was standing there trying to take a good photo of the computer screen when one of the volunteers mentioned that they could give me a color printout for $10. And so I have it!:
Notice that area at the bottom entitled 'Memorable Experiences.' I mentioned to one of the volunteers that my grandmother had written a little about her first experiences in the Coast Guard in a journal she kept towards the end of her life. She gave me instructions about how I can go online and add those memories to my grandmother's record.
Unfortunately, the database of women is not available online, according to their website. However, there is plenty of contact information on this page and this page, so if you have a family member who might be registered in the database, it wouldn't hurt to contact them and find out if they can send a print out to you. I did not have to give any physical proof of my relationship to my grandmother to obtain this printout - I just told them she was my grandmother and that was it. (They might be more strict if the person about which you are inquiring is still alive, however.)
©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder
Unfortunately, the database of women is not available online, according to their website. However, there is plenty of contact information on this page and this page, so if you have a family member who might be registered in the database, it wouldn't hurt to contact them and find out if they can send a print out to you. I did not have to give any physical proof of my relationship to my grandmother to obtain this printout - I just told them she was my grandmother and that was it. (They might be more strict if the person about which you are inquiring is still alive, however.)
©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder
