Honoring Our Veterans

At the GFWC Montana Fall BOD Meeting held in Butte, Montana, President Kim Montag presented her President’s Special Project, Honor Our Veterans, sharing her vision for how the Montana clubs could help achieve the goals she had established for the Project. 

Her Honor Our Veterans Project challenges our clubs to find a meaningful way to support the veterans in their communities. Something as simple as preparing a meal or organizing a special activity, the goal is something that will let the veterans know they are honored and appreciated for their service.

President Montag invited Lieutenant Colonel Ed Saunders, US Army (retired) to speak at the Friday night dinner of their meeting. LTC Saunders gave an engaging presentation about the women from Montana who volunteered as nurses and telephone operators (famed “Hello Girls”) in WWI.  He had researched these women in extensively, had wrote a book “Knapsacks and Roses” about them and had his audience’s complete attention during his presentation. LTC Saunders has fought for years to get the proper recognition for these women for  their service to our Nation.

Also, in attendance at this GFWC MT meeting was Juliet Casper, GFWC International Secretary.  It turns out Juliet loves history and she shared a quote from LTC Saunders’ book in her presentation to our clubwomen on Saturday.

“In his book’s epilogue, LTC Saunders shares the words that he spoke at the dedication ceremony for the Women’s World War I memorial in Billings, Montana on April 6, 2017.  He said “The greatest tragedy for America’s servicemen and women is not that they may die in war.  The greatest tragedy is they may be forgotten: forgotten in life and forgotten in death by the very same nation and people they swore an oath to defend.”

Juliet also included Montana history in her presentations and stressed the importance of remembering your history. She urged us to document the history of those that came before us – she said “Make their service matter. Lift up their voices.  Never forget means nothing if we fail to tell the stories.” 

Another way to Honor Our Veterans is to tell the stories of the women who have served our Nation. President Montag is asking our clubs to join the Military Women’s Memorial (“MWM”) Square Foot Society as part of her President’s project. President Montag showed the video to the clubwomen at our meeting that Chief Warrant Officer Five (Retired) Phyllis J. Wilson, President of the MWM showed us in Scottsdale.  She has challenged our clubs to each donate $330 to help sustain the memorial and her goal is 80% participation – or $5,544.  At this meeting, over $1,900 was raised towards this goal.

President Montag also informed our clubs of GFWC International President Wendy Carriker’s challenge to register 500 military women in the MWM Register that records and preserves the names, service information, photographs and memorable experiences of each registered servicewoman.  Many clubs have already taken this up as something they will assist with. 

Operation Juliet is a not-for-profit, formed by a woman combat veteran, that offers holistic healing, community support and leadership development through classes, counseling and retreats for women combat veterans returning from duty. This organization is located in Billings, Montana and holds these seminars throughout Montana. President Montag has set a goal to raise $3,000 to support Operation Juliet during the next 2 years. As part of the fundraising, she is selling administration pins for $20 and all the proceeds will go to them. So far $640 has been raised selling her pins.

President Montag is looking forward to seeing what our clubs can accomplish over the next two years and believes the goals we have set for her Honor Our Veterans project will be far exceeded based upon the enthusiasm shown at our meeting in Butte.