Okaloosa County honors Women's Veterans Day for the first time

Collin Bestor, Northwest Florida Daily News
Updated ·2 min read
Okaloosa County Commissioners standing in front of the new memorial wall at the Women's Veterans Park.
Okaloosa County Commissioners standing in front of the new memorial wall at the Women's Veterans Park.

FORT WALTON BEACH — On June 12, 1948, President Harry S Truman signed the Women's Armed Service Integration Act, allowing women to serve as United States Armed Forces members for the first time.

Seventy-five years later, Okaloosa County for the first time honored women who have served in America's armed forces on Women's Veterans Day near the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center on Monday morning.

"It is important to honor the sacrifices, challenges, and successes of the woman veterans who broke ground ahead of us," said keynote speaker Lt. Col. Terry Izzel of the 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Hurlburt Field.

For Okaloosa County Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel, this was a moment that was years in the making. She originally brought the idea before the board a few years ago.

"I am very honored. It took all the commissioners and all of the committee staff that we had," Ketchel told the Daily News, "It is such an amazing moment for me to see the vision come to fruition.

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Ketchel brought up the idea of having a Women's Veteran Memorial a couple of years ago, and from what she describes, the plan isn't over yet. In the future, she hopes that additional statues of women will be placed to represent different conflicts along with different branches of service, such as the United States Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

Opened in 2021, the 17.5-acre Veterans Park holds statues and monuments for eight women who served in the armed forces from the Revolutionary War to the War in Afghanistan. The statutes include Northwest Florida resident Jacqueline Cochran, who, during World War II, was the head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

Florida is also home to the country's second-largest population of female veterans.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Okaloosa County honors women in the armed forces