Women in the Military
June 16, 2008 – 3:50 pmI had planned to write in my blog last evening after returning from a visit with family in North Carolina, but I made the mistake of tuning into the U.S. Open. That took care of my evening. I’m watching the playoff right now, but I think I can watch and write at the same time. We’ll see.
I met Diane at the World War II weekend in Reading. She was at the table behind me, so we were sitting back to back. As soon as I arrived in the hangar, I became dependent on her. She came prepared with plastic bags, paper towels, water, and any number of extras. She also suggested I stop at a store to pick up sun screen and a couple other things. As the days progressed, I decided to find out what her story was.
She joined the Army in 1978, while she was a senior in high school, and off she went to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. It wasn’t long before she was sent to Germany to serve in the postal unit where she served in both Aschaffenburg and Hanau. She found a career in the Army and has been in postal work for the past 24 years.
Now she sorts mail at the Reading Post Office from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. There she met her husband, also a Army veteran, and they have been married 18 years.
Diane now spends many of her daytime hours working for the Women Veterans of Berks County, where she serves as Commander. She enjoys speaking to young people and other groups, helping them understand how women have served through history, not only in the military but by assisting the soldiers, some of them their own husbands, cooking, shopping, doing laundry, and other such tasks. They have frequently received a bum rap.
Diane and the Women Veterans of Berks County often attend funerals of military women, where a particular poem is read. I’ll share it in the next entry.
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