2025 SESSION

INTRODUCED

25101121D

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 250

Offered January 8, 2025

Prefiled December 26, 2024

Designating June 12, in 2025 and in each succeeding year, as Women Veterans Day in Virginia.

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Patrons—Carroll Foy, Aird, Suetterlein and Williams Graves

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Referred to Committee on Rules

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WHEREAS, women have formally been a part of the United States Armed Forces since the inception of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901; and

WHEREAS, the Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army, created as an auxiliary force in 1942 and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943; and

WHEREAS, other branches of the military also had women's units during World War II, including Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in the Navy, the Coast Guard Women's Reserve (also known as the SPAR Corps), the Marine Corps Women's Reserve, the civilian Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), and Women in Airforce (WAFs); and

WHEREAS, according to the National Park Service, more than 350,000 women served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II, including the first women to serve in a capacity other than nurse in the Army; and

WHEREAS, the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, allowing women to serve permanently in the United States military, was signed on June 12, 1948; and

WHEREAS, the WAC disbanded in 1978, allowing women to serve alongside men in the same units; and

WHEREAS, women veterans deserve respect for making significant contributions to and sacrifices while in the armed forces; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly designate June 12, in 2025 and in each succeeding year, as Women Veterans Day in Virginia; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the Virginia Department of Veterans Services so that members of the agency may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the Senate post the designation of this day on the General Assembly's website.