Women Veterans Brunch [Mid Hudson News]

GR in the News

Nov 17

The Mid Hudson News reported on our Women Veterans Recognition Brunch, hosted on November 16, 2024.

We organized this special opportunity to recognize & celebrate local women veterans and gain insights into their remarkable history, service, and experiences — in the military and beyond. Brunch was provided by Ledley Catering, a family-owned regional favorite as we heard from wonderful women veterans from our local community:

Keynote speaker Edie Meeks (Vietnam Veteran & Nurse)
Ashley Rogers (Navy)
Beth-Anne Canero (Marine Corps)
Alyssa Carrion (Army)
Mary Wagner (Air National Guard)

Women vets recognized in Putnam County

CARMEL- Putnam County has a veteran population of 55,000 with some 3,850 women veterans in our community. Neighboring counties of Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster also have 40-69 veterans per 1,000 residents, making their numbers comparable as well.
For the first time local women serving in the armed forces have been recognized thanks to the Patterson Rotary and Guardian Revival, groups which on Saturday hosted Putnam’s 1st annual Women’s Veterans Recognition Brunch.
More than 125 people gathered at the Centennial Golf Club for the event and were welcomed by Megan Castellano, Executive Program Director of Guardian Revival who noted that “women veterans are often overlooked; some don’t even think of themselves as veterans, despite serving, and sacrificing, with honor in protection of our freedom.”
Castellano thanked the Rotary Club of Patterson for being the “visionaries who were committed to ensuring we recognize and celebrate our local heroines.”
Four veterans, Ashley Rogers of the Navy, Beth-Anne Canero of the Marine Corps, Alyssa Carrion of the Army and Mary Wagner of the Air Force discussed how the military impacted their lives.
Carrion, a resident of Carmel, who graduated from West Point, described the day as being incredible: “May of us return home and fall back into normal life and let go of that veteran identity. To have a program designed that recognizes and welcomes female veterans is truly incredible.”
Vietnam veteran and Army nurse Edie Meeks who grew up in Minnesota before relocating to Beacon delivered the keynote address.
Meeks said her experience as a nurse in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969 was “life changing. We all volunteered. I went because my brother was a Marine and I figured if he became injured, medical attention was immediately needed.”
Meeks reminded the audience: “For a woman to serve in the military, it takes a lot of guts because the military is a man’s world. It’s getting better but men still rule the military. Women must stand on their two feet while standing up for themselves. Women can do anything men can do in the service. For me, it was extremely strengthening. Remember this was the 1960’s with women’s liberation coming on board. I knew I had to be who I was—for me not a wimp. I stood up for myself as well as my patients. At times it was adversarial but I valued all of my patients much more than the Army did.”
Meeks called her Army experience “great and I would do it all over again if I had to because it made me who I am today.”
Karl Rohde, Director the Putnam County Office of Veterans Affairs, a Vietnam veteran and Silver Star recipient for Bravery in Action while serving in Southeast Asia, called the nurses in Vietnam “invaluable. The nurses were wonderful many resembling your mom. They were older than most of us. Most of the nurses had graduated college before serving while I and many of my comrades were 20 years old. They treated us so wonderfully.”
Rohde said ‘thank God I was not wounded but I did contract malaria and the nurses treated me with warm and loving care. I run into many Army nurses in my travels and always thank them for their service.”
The New York State Health Foundation reported recently that the Empire State is home to 800,000 veterans and 58,000 of them are women. Women veterans are the fastest growing group of veterans and are projected to make up 18 percent of all veterans by 2040. Despite the numbers, women veterans often are unnoticed.