Phyllis sits down with our very own Marilla Cushman, Senior Advisor to the President. Marilla shares her story of her years of service in the Army, her part in the popular “Be All You Can Be” advertising campaign and how Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught recruited her to work at the Military Women’s Memorial. Phyllis and Marilla also discuss our 24 years of telling HERstory.

As part of our Summer With The Arts series, this month’s HERstory highlights two women, both featured in the current exhibit created in partnership with UnitingUS. Military Women’s Memorial Collections Manager Amy Poe sits down with Gail Belmont and April Goodwin-Gill. Gail and April discuss how their military service played a central role in shaping who they are and how it has influenced their work as artists. Gail and April have found healing and comfort in their art and use it to inspire other veterans, service members, and their communities. Listen to the powerful stories of these veteran artists and learn about the meaning and creative process behind their art.

April Goodwin-Gill is an Army veteran who worked as an Ammunition Weapons Specialist in the 1980s. April served in Colorado, Italy, Texas and Alabama. She has turned to art as a therapeutic way to express herself.

Gail Belmont is a former WAC (Women’s Army Corp) who played trumpet in the WAC band during the Vietnam War. She served both on active duty and in the reserves in the late 60s and 70s, and then spent 25 years working as an Army civilian for the Department of Defense as a data administrator. In her role in the WAC band, she performed Taps at military funerals which was an emotionally taxing responsibility. In turn, she turned to quilting as a form of art therapy to help her manager her PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).

Summer With The Arts was created in partnership with UnitingUS and the presenting sponsor is OptumServe.

MWM President Phyllis Wilson sits down with Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, USAF (Ret.). Not only did Helms serve in the U.S. Air Force, but she was also a NASA astronaut. She has been to space five times for a total of 211 days. She graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1980 and became a weapons separation engineer and test pilot before joining NASA. She returned to the Air Force in 2002 to work at the HQ USAF Space Command. Helms also served as the 45th Space Wing Commander and was responsible for processing and launching government and commercial satellites. While with NASA, she flew aboard the Space Shuttles Endeavor, Discovery, Columbia and Atlantis, and served aboard the International Space Station. She held the world record for longest space walk at 8 hours and 56 minutes.

Helms graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1980, and was in the first class to admit women into the cadet corps. She served as an F-15 and F-16 weapons separation engineer, and as an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Helms was then selected to attend the USAF Test Pilot School Flight Test Engineer Course. Upon graduation as a Distinguished Graduate, she served as project officer on the CF-18 as an exchange officer with the Canadian Air Force at the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, Cold Lake, Alberta.

In January 1990, then-Major Helms became a NASA astronaut and in 1993, became the first U.S. military woman in space. She flew on five human spaceflight missions, including a tour as a member of the International Space Station Expedition 2 crew. Helms logged 211 days in space and accomplished a spacewalk of eight hours, 56 minutes, a world record that stands today.

After 12 years at NASA, Helms transferred to Air Force Space Command. She commanded the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral, and held positions at Headquarters Air Force Space Command, Air Education and Training Command, and U.S. Strategic Command. Upon promotion to Lieutenant General, she commanded the 14th Air Force (Air Force Space Command) and the Joint Functional Component Command for Space in a dual-hat role. Lt. Gen. Helms retired from military service in 2014.

Helms currently serves as a member of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, and was appointed by President Obama to the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center (2014-2016). She is also a board member of the Association of Space Explorers, and has established her own consulting company, Orbital Visions, LLC, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Among Helms’ many awards are the Gen. James V. Hartinger Award, Thomas D. White Space Award for Outstanding Contributions to Space, Dr. Kurt H. Debus Award, Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and induction into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Helms earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1980, and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 1985. She completed the Air Force Flight Test Engineer course at USAF Test Pilot School, Edwards Air Force Base in 1988, and the Senior Executive Course, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in 2005.

April 2021

Melissa A. Washington sits down with MWM President Phyllis Wilson to discuss her service in the United States Navy, her decision to leave the military, the challenges of balancing a civilian career and being a military spouse and the importance of community.

Award-winning advocate, speaker, author, entrepreneur, CEO, and proud Navy veteran Melissa A. Washington wears many hats. Yet woven throughout her diverse pursuits is a mission of service—and a passion to empower her fellow women. The founder and CEO of Women Veterans Alliance—a national organization that seeks to empower and positively impact the lives of women veterans. She also oversees WVA’s non-profit division, Women Veterans Giving.

Melissa serves as an advisor to the American Veteran Organization of Women’s AVOW Magazine. An in-demand speaker and author, who has appeared on the Dr. Phil Show, SiriusXM, ABC, NBC, and Fox, among others, Melissa was featured in VAntage Point—the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ official blog. She has also been recognized by a variety of organizations, including the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Center for Women Veterans, who honored her with the 2019 Trailblazer Award.

May 2021

Dr. Mylène Huynh sits down with MWM President Phyllis Wilson to discuss her service in the United States Air Force, how her childhood in Vietnam during the war impacted her choice to join the Air Force, and how her early exposure to her parent’s medical background influenced her current medical practice.

Dr. Mylène (“Mee-lenn”) Huynh (“Winn”) is board certified in Family Practice and Preventive Medicine with over 20 years experience in integrative health and medical acupuncture. Dr. Huynh’s passion is health and healing with a life mission to promote healthier communities. She is a functional medicine practitioner with special interest and training in clinical nutrition, lifestyle medicine, mindfulness meditation and evidence-based approaches to reversing chronic diseases.

Dr. Huynh obtained both her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.  She completed a 21-year US Air Force career as a flight surgeon, family medicine academic faculty, clinic director, consultant to the USAF Surgeon General on preventive medicine and global health.  In addition to TruPoint Health, she serves as an integrative health physician at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  Dr. Huynh holds appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD.

Presenting Sponsor for The Color of Freedom: Honoring the Diversity of America’s Servicewomen is Comcast NBCUniversal, with additional support from GEICO Military, Northrop Grumman, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Cerner Corporation.

January 2021

Shannon Huffman Polson sits down with Military Women’s Memorial President, Phyllis Wilson, to discuss her experience as a woman in the Military.

At graduation from Duke University, Shannon was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in Army Aviation where she became one of the first women to fly Apache helicopters, serving on three continents and leading two flight platoons and a line company. Following her service in the Army, Shannon joined the corporate world.

Today, she is the founder of The Grit Institute and author of the new book The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World where she tells the tales of trailblazing women who learned to lead at the highest levels and how they overcame adversity and learned from their experiences.

Get the book here.

February 2021

Denise discusses her time in the military as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Denise works for the Naval History and Heritage Command and is also a locally elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner representing the Hill East community in Washington, D.C. She began her career as an active-duty Coast Guard officer. After September 11, 2001, she helped create the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. She also served as Senior Counsel on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. During President Obama’s first term, she was the Maritime Administration Chief Counsel and Special Counsel to the U.S. Department of Transportation General Counsel. Krepp’s family has long served in the military, including her husband, mother, father, uncles, grandfather, great uncles, and the generations before them. Denise has also done extensive research on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and shares her insights and stories in this wide-ranging discussion. This conversation is part of a year-long partnership with the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tomb. 

Join us as we recreate a World War I donut recipe used by Ethel Ash. Ash volunteered with the YMCA, a uniformed organization that worked alongside the military to boost morale. She served in France where she made hundreds of donuts a day for soldiers, with limited ingredients available to her. The Spotlight Series takes a look at stories from both our Register, an interactive online database of military women, and our world class collection.

Recipe:

1 cup water

¼ cup butter

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup self-rising flour

½ cup Sweetened Condensed Milk

Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught’s career of service spanned sixty years- first, in the Air Force and then as the founding president of the Military Women’s Memorial in Arlington, VA. Learn about the legacy of this remarkable servicewoman in the first episode of HERstory Spotlight.

Take me out to the ballgame! Beginning in World War II, servicewomen formed softball leagues to keep America’s pastime going while men were abroad. These women provided entertainment, built camaraderie and established a tradition of women in military athletics which continues today. In honor of the World Series, in this episode of HERstory Spotlight, we explore softball and service.