WHS observes Veteran's Day

 

November 12, 2015

Diana Zimmerman

Wahkiakum High School seniors honor local veterans with candles at their annual Veteran's Day Assembly.

Students took time to honor local veterans while giving special emphasis to one segment of the military population at the Veteran's Day Assembly at Wahkiakum High School on Tuesday.

"We want to focus on our female comrades in arms," retired Lieutenant Colonel and teacher Mike Thomas said. He then invited his friend and fellow teacher, Colonel Michele Haberlach, to the podium.

"The VFW asked me to speak to you today about the experiences of women serving in the military," Haberlach said. "That got me thinking about how very often service members are called upon to not only form the front lines in war torn nations abroad but also the front lines of social change here at home. Both tasks require great bravery and are fraught with daunting challenges."

Haberlach spoke of African Americans serving in a time when they were still considered property, of Asian Americans and Native Americans serving in WWII "in the shadows of reservations and internment camps" and of others.

Diana Zimmerman

Local veterans represented all branches of the armed forces.

"Underrepresented groups found opportunity and acceptance in the military long before they were able to own property and vote," she continued. "Women as well as the other groups, were also capable of fostering incremental, lasting change throughout society while simultaneously serving in the armed forces with distinction."

According to Haberlach, women were finally and fully integrated into the Armed Forces in 1976, a full year before Harvard began admitting female students.

Haberlach was a member of the sixth class from the United States Military Academy at West Point to graduate with women. She was one of the first women to fly and command troops in combat during the First Gulf War.

"After the war, while pregnant with my daughter," she said, "I spent hours in Apache and OH-58D simulators as lawmakers studied my performance and that of two of my fellow female combat aviators

 

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