FRANKFORT, Ky. — Nearly 76 years ago, former President Harry Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to permanently join the military.

What You Need To Know

  • Lady Veterans Connect honored women veterans June 8 in Frankfort

  • June 12, 2024 will mark 76 years since the Women's Armed Services Integration Act became law

  • The act allowed women to permanently serve in the military

  • Gov. Andy Beshear's administration proclaimed June 12, 2024, as Women Veterans Recognition Day in Kentucky

Lady Veterans Connect honored and celebrated women veterans at the state Capitol June 8 in recognition of the act's anniversary. 

“I am just so happy that I served," said veteran Robbin Higgins. "I can't think of anything else that I would have done or any other way that I would have had the life that I actually had while serving. Now, as a veteran, I can bring my skills here to bear in the in the commonwealth of Kentucky."

Higgins served in the Army Signal Corps from 1985 to 2014. She said when she first started, it was a difficult experience.

“There was no woman in my company at all," she said. "I was the first female officer that my company commander had worked with, so he always asked the question, ‘Higgins, what am I supposed to do with you?’ And my typical response would be, 'The same thing you do with the male officers.'"

Higgins said serving in the military is an honorable job, and women can serve alongside their male counterparts.

“I would love to share that women serving in any branch of the military, they bring intelligence, they bring resilience, they bring strength,” she said.

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, D-Ky., thanked the veterans for their service and proclaimed June 12, 2024, as Women Veterans Recognition Day in Kentucky.

“On behalf of Team Kentucky, I want to say thank you to all of our veterans, and particularly the women veterans that are here today," Coleman said. "May God bless you, may God bless America and may God bless the commonwealth of Kentucky."

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, Higgins said, is only the start and there is more progress to be made.

“I encourage women to serve in the armed forces and to do the hard work ... there's a lot still yet to be done,” she said.

Lady Veterans Connect was founded in 2012 to support women veterans and prevent homelessness.

The charity said it has helped about 500 people since it began.

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