Women Fight for War Memorial

--Disguising herself in men’s clothing, a young Massachusetts woman named Deborah Sampson told recruiters her name was Robert Shurtleff and enlisted in the Army. The year was 1782; her corps was in the Continental Army. Sampson was honorably discharged the next year after seeing battlefield action. Today, there are more than 1.15 million women veterans. And there are those who believe that it’s time that the women veterans get their own war memorial. “When you talk about veterans, most people think of men. They don’t think about women,” said June Willenz, executive director of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, which is lobbying for the memorial. “It’s really something that’s long overdue.” “Before I die, I want to take my daughter to Washington to see the statue dedicated to American women veterans. I’m willing to work for that,” a woman from Pennsylvania wrote. Willenz said her committee plans to launch a campaign early next year to raise money for the memorial.

--NASA had closed the hatch on a Purdue University student’s egg project, but a congressman helped reopen the door. John Vellinger, 20, of Lafayette, Ind., said he received notice last month that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had bumped his project to determine the effect of weightlessness on chicken embryos from a Jan. 22 space shuttle flight because of space and load limitations. The project had earned a space ride as one of the winners of NASA’s 1983 National Science Competition. When Rep. John T. Myers (R-Ind.), who represents Vellinger’s home district, learned that NASA was going to fly its bird without the eggs, he stepped in on behalf of the project. Myers’ office was later notified that the specially designed incubator and its eggs were cleared for liftoff.

--Anthony (Jas) Knight is only 8, but his hands bear the calluses that an artist gets by holding pencils and brushes. The Hartford, Conn., third-grader has already had a one-man, or one-boy, show of his drawings and paintings. His teachers say he may be an artistic genius. “He can talk about light and movement and composition,” said Loreen Bazzano, Anthony’s art teacher at Mark Twain School. “I would say that, yes, he is close to a genius, in what I have seen him pick up.” A number of Anthony’s works were displayed over the weekend in a one-person exhibit at the Sixth Biennial New England Art Education Conference.

--Astronaut Sally Ride will receive the Circumnavigators Club award, the Order of Magellan, this week in New York City. The first American woman astronaut, Ride is only the 17th person to receive the award, which is presented to individuals who are dedicated to advancing peace and understanding in all parts of the world and who have circumnavigated the globe. Others so honored have included Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, President Herbert Hoover, Neil A. Armstrong, Sen. Barry Goldwater and Thor Heyerdahl.