
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 23, 1995                   TAG: 9507180112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ARLINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

MILITARY WOMEN'S MEMORIAL BEGUN

American women, from Revolutionary War saboteurs and World War I ``hello girls'' to combat fliers and space shuttle pilots, were honored Thursday in a military groundbreaking for a national Women's Memorial.

President Clinton praised young and old servicewomen for putting their lives on the line despite years of not being recognized for their sacrifices. Many went home ``second-class soldiers'' with no veterans benefits, he noted.

``This memorial ... makes a long overdue payment on a debt that we will never fully repay,'' Clinton said, ``A debt we owe to generations of American women in uniform who gave and continue to give so much to our country, and a debt we owe yet to future generations of women who will dedicate their own lives in defense of our freedom.''

The $25 million memorial to recognize the 1.8 million women who have served in the U.S. military is set for completion in 1997. It will restore the Arlington National Cemetery gate and attach a building with a reflecting pool outside and an educational center inside. A computer registry will store the histories, pictures and stories of veterans.

Visitors can learn about Deborah Sampson Gannett, alias Robert Shirtliffe, who disguised herself as a man to fight the Revolutionary War; Belle Boyd, a Civil War spy; 30 WWI ``hello girls,'' French-speaking telephone operators sent to the front to ``free men to fight;'' the WACs, WASPS, WAVES and SPARS from WWII; six Navy fliers who in 1973 were first to earn pilot wings; Lt. Colleen Nevius, who 10 years later became the first Navy woman test pilot; and Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, who this year became the first female pilot of a space shuttle, the Discovery.

And Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley, who made history by commanding the first all-black female battalion, 1,000 strong, in Europe during WWII. A postal unit, they made sure letters made it to the fighting boys.

Virginia Tech played a role in the memorial's early development. The university's College of Architecture and Urban Studies conducted the national design competition for the semicircular structure at the gateway. Professors Jaan Holt and Greg Hunt at the college's Washington-Alexandria Center set up and managed the judging team that chose the architects. Tech architecture graduate Carla I. Corbin was the memorial's first architectural program director and worked closely with Holt and Hunt.

by CNB