On the Front Lines at Last

They endured sneers from soldiers they served with in World War II and were labeled “camp followers” by people back home.

Even worse, their sacrifices were largely ignored by a nation more intent upon honoring the men who had served their country than the women.

But Saturday, several Ventura County women plan to attend dedication ceremonies in Washington, D.C., for the first major memorial devoted solely to paying tribute to the estimated 1.8 million women who have defended the United States since the Revolutionary War.

“We’re a piece of history and we’re being recognized for once,” snapped Lillian Rudzonis of Ojai, who was 21 when she joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1942. “We’ve never had a monument, and look at all the monuments for men.”

Rudzonis and two other World War II-era veterans from Ojai--Mary Steffen, who has worked for a decade to make the monument a reality, and Councilwoman Nina Shelley--will join an expected 30,000 others at the ceremonies.

The three say their attendance is an effort to ensure that a nation that has long failed to recognize the contributions of its female veterans will remember what they can never forget.

“It was the greatest thing I ever did in my life,” said Steffen, who enlisted at 21 in 1942 and ended up serving 18 months in London and Paris as an Army telephone operator for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. “But it was the scariest thing too.”

The $21.5-million monument goes by the ungainly name of Women in Military Service for America Memorial.

The semicircular memorial itself is far more graceful, curving around a reflecting pool on a four-acre site at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.

The women’s memorial includes a 33,000-square-foot education center with a 196-seat theater, a Hall of Honor in recognition of those who died or were captured in the line of duty, and a gallery with 16 exhibit alcoves illustrating how women have served their country.

Glass tablets inscribed with quotations by and about servicewomen will be placed along an upper terrace, the words reflecting onto the walls and floor of the exhibit gallery.

The centerpiece is a computerized version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, a database that’s intended to contain the names and military career highlights of every eligible servicewoman from the American Revolution to today, as well as a photograph and personal recollection, if possible.

So far only about 250,000 names have been listed in the database from the almost 2 million who qualify. It’s a figure that gives credence to the slogan the nonprofit foundation spearheading the memorial’s construction has used in its fund-raising: “America’s Best Kept Military Secret. Its Servicewomen.”

Steffen has spent the last decade searching out women who served in the armed forces so they can be included in the register, even handing out brochures in women’s restrooms on occasion.

Still, fewer than half of California’s estimated 147,000 female veterans are registered, she said.

Foundation spokeswoman Jennifer Finstein attributes that to ignorance about the memorial.

But the number of entries may also go some way toward explaining why the contributions of America’s military heroines have gone overlooked for so long, she said.

“Sometimes I think they think their story isn’t as important as it really is,” she said. “I think the World War II vets especially tend not to think about their service. They were called and they served . . . . [But] everyone’s individual story is what makes the collective history.”

To the three graying World War II vets from Ojai, the memorial rights a festering injustice.

No-nonsense Army nurse Rudzonis recalls landing on the beach at Normandy five days after D-Day. Conditions, she said, were “hell.”

A nurse tent-mate was killed by enemy fire. She treated soldiers who were blinded or required amputations in the field hospital where she worked. And upon her return to the U.S. at war’s end she was greeted by her upset mother, who had been informed by a neighbor that no good women served in the armed forces.

“All mothers were embarrassed when their daughters went into the military,” said Steffen, who also encountered sexism from fellow military personnel while overseas. “The men who disliked us most were the ones who had the good, cushy jobs behind the front lines.”

In contrast, former Marine Shelley, among the first contingent of women who enlisted, never left American soil during her service and did not encounter similar hostility.

“I did have a good time,” she said with a mischievous glint in her eye. “All the men were in the military.”

Still, the experiences of Rudzonis and Steffen were not uncommon for the 400,000 women who served during World War II, especially for WACs who served overseas, said Carol Marsh, staff historian at the Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme.

Poor planning to cope with the influx of women in what had been an all-male bastion led to the prejudice and bigotry.

“I guess their egos were being threatened mainly,” she said. “There was a lot of resentment among the men that there were women in the service, and some of the men early on started spreading rumors that they were not of the highest morals. . . . They had trouble recruiting after a while because so many things were said about them.”

World War II marked a turning point for the armed forces: Three years after the war ended, a law gave women a permanent place in the military.

Still, this week’s dedication is a celebration of long overdue recognition, the three women said.

Rudzonis, in addition to ensuring that her name has been spelled correctly in the registry, will eagerly scan the crowd for the familiar faces of women who may have served alongside her. Steffen will bask in the satisfaction that women have finally built a memorial to honor their achievements. And Shelley will enjoy the famous Marine esprit de corps and reflect upon what the memorial means to her--and other women.

“I think women, for one reason or another, haven’t stepped forward enough to show women what they can do,” Shelley said. “In my politics and everything I’ve done I’ve tried to show women they can step forward and take responsibility. . . . I would like to be seen as an example that a woman can do anything she likes to do, if she just steps forward and says ‘I can do it.’ ”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FYI

To register in the database or contribute to the memorial, call (800) 472-5883. A donation of $25 is requested for registration, but financial assistance is available.