Faith sustains women veterans

LAURA DODSON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Posted: 11.03.09

LAKELAND | It was World War II, there was a desperate need for personnel and a call went out — “Free a Marine to Fight,” “Do Your Part,” and “It’s a Woman’s War Too!” Hearts were touched and women enlisted. On Nov. 11, when the nation celebrates Veteran’s Day, hearts will brim again with the pride of having served.

“My mother and I signed up together in 1942,” shared Ruth Walzer of St. Joseph Parish here. “My father was in the Navy, my brother was in the Air Corps and both my younger sisters were married. We joined the Women’s Army Corps and had one vacation when we were all home for one day. The newspapers took a picture of all four of us in uniform to use for recruiting.”

Mary Bevan had to wait to turn 20 in 1944 to enlist in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. “I loved the uniform,” she said, “but after 65 years, all I can get into is my hat.”

“My mother cried. She thought I was going to get a gun and join John Wayne,” Bevan laughed. “She was a little old Irish lady and I was an only child. My father used to talk about ‘my kid the Marine’ and everyone expected a 6-foot-4 male and this little 5-foot-3 woman came out.”

Bevan worked as an auditor and is now the commandant of the Marine Corps League Detachment in Melbourne — the only woman among 20 men. A parishioner at Ascension Parish there, Bevan shared, “I thank the good Lord he let me go in and come out. I knew Our Lord was there and didn’t even think about what might happen.”

KOREA
Bridget Kennedy served in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve from 1951 to 1954 during the Korean War.

“We were at war and it was the thing to do,” she explained. “I had a lot of friends who went and didn’t come back.”

Kennedy, now a parishioner at Epiphany Parish in Port Orange, was sent to Naval Justice School and worked stateside in administration for the major general of the Fleet Range Force in the Pacific.

VIETNAM
As an Army nurse in the early 1970s, Jenny-Teresa Santiago, also of St. Joseph Parish in Lakeland, received her orders to Vietnam. Fortunately for her, the war ended before she was deployed, although she did care for the wounded as they returned.

“This permitted me to get a degree and is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Santiago shared. “God was with me, guiding me. I love the woman I became and recommend the military for anyone.”

Santiago has four children; three of them have served in the military.

GULF
Deborah Chambers is a commander of the Navy Nurse Corps, director of clinical nursing overseeing a 40-member medical unit in Orange City, responsible for 800 reservists ready to go to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. She has been a member of the Nurse Corps for 26 years.

“I pray all the time — that’s what helps me,” shared Chambers who is a parishioner at Nativity in Longwood. “I talk to the troops and tell them, ‘Have faith. I pray for you going out and coming back in.’ I love what I do. It’s my passion. And I’m looking out for our lady vets — making sure they get the services they need.”

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