Our brave women veterans were officially overlooked for many generations. Formal recognition from our grateful nation finally came in 1986 when construction of the national Military Women’s Memorial was authorized. It was opened to the public in 1997 in Arlington, Virginia.
The city of Aurora proudly focused its recent Veterans Day ceremony on women veterans from all branches of the service. Collectively honored as grand marshals of the parade were 13 women, and each took a turn for a brief remark when the ceremony was moved indoors because of the weather.
Although the speeches were short, they were inspirational to everyone present in the City Council chambers. Although the word is overused at times, these were amazing women, and I was lucky enough to catch up with some of them after the ceremony and to hear more of their life stories and military service.
Eneke Smith, who was a lieutenant in the United States Navy, is a graduate of Norfolk State University, using the Navy’s Degree Completion Program. She became a Supply Corps officer, and went on active duty in Norfolk, Virginia, attached to the USS Peterson, a destroyer.
For two years, she sailed on that ship when it was on sea duty. She spent six years on active duty, followed by two years of reserve duty.
“The Navy was initially an opportunity to go to college,” Smith said. “All in all, it taught me the value of service and being a servant leader. I went back to school after the Navy, and now work at the veterans’ hospital as a registered nurse. I get to serve the veteran community every day, which is pretty cool.”
Darnetta Jones, a lieutenant in the United States Army, graduated from Alabama A&M University on a full ROTC scholarship. She was in an engineering unit which, when called to active duty, worked on building schools in Guatemala.
After attending Officer Basic Course, she gained skill as a chemical officer. She became the officer who would issue the ready command if her unit were under chemical attack, and was responsible for the entire troop being trained on chemical warfare.
“The commanders I worked with in ROTC built confidence in me,” Jones said. “One captain cheered me on for my two-mile run during OBC, and told me how proud he was. That was my proudest moment. It gave me confidence to stand up and give briefings, and just be able to talk to people. It made me a stronger person.”
The “ranking” officer to be honored at the ceremony was United States Army Col. Janene Marshall-Gatling. She graduated from Virginia State University in 1995 as a member of the ROTC. She is today still in the reserves after 25 years of service.
She initially stayed in Virginia to finish graduate school in 1997, and also married her husband, Lt. Col. Charles Gatling, in that same year as he returned from South Korea. Because her husband was continually on active duty, they moved frequently and lived in five different states. As a result, Marshall-Gatling gained valuable experience with different positions in different reserve units. Her husband also had tours of duty in Iraq and Kuwait.
The couple’s children were born in 2006 and 2008, and Marshall-Gatling had been promoted to major in 2006. She had to leave her family when she was deployed to Afghanistan as a logistical support officer in 2011. The assignment was to Camp Leatherneck with the U.S. Marines in the southern part of the country.
“This was hardest on my husband and my mother as my kids were so young during that time,” she said.
Marshall-Gatling remembered that she returned from Afghanistan on July 4, 2012, and also remembered some of the trying times there.
“There were alarms for possible incoming air attacks, and we would go into the bunkers,” she said. “I would think ‘If I get out of this alive, I’ll be thankful.'”
She continued by saying something that I’ve heard many times while interviewing veterans about their bravery.
“You think about your life and your kids — you don’t think about being brave,” she said.
Marshall-Gatling has continued to serve in the reserves, and was promoted to full colonel in 2017. She now serves as chief of staff of the 95th Training Division based at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and travels there five days out of every month. She hopes to spend five more years in the service.
“You put on the uniform to support and defend the Constitution. That’s what you believe in,” she said. “But for me, it’s also Christian values. This is what we do — we serve.”
Each of these women veteran-heroes graduated from an Historically Black University, and Marshall-Gatling finished by speaking about the WAC 6888th Battalion, which was formed during World War II, and how its legacy affected her. It was the first African American all-female battalion, and was the first and only all women battalion to be deployed overseas. Its story was largely untold, and was not officially recognized until 2009.
“They set the foundation, and we stood on their shoulders,” she said. “They stood up for what they believed in during a difficult time (segregation). This is why I am where I am, because someone laid the groundwork for us.
“Their courage and resilience, I could never fathom what they went through,” she said. “They made those steps one day at a time.”
Tom Strong is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
