My mother was a Marine sergeant and served at Pearl Harbor. Those of you who know my writing, or know me, know she died several years ago and was honored with a full-military funeral. Women who served are working to raise money with quilt sales and bake sales to turn a pitiful wreck of a crumbling wall into a permanent memorial at Arlington National Cemetary. These women who served in World War II are dying now, one by one.

Soon, as with all of that generation, they’ll only be memories. How sad to see the material reminders of the service go down.

Here’s the story of the women who are hoping new generations of women, and men, will pick up the slack and allow women to be remembered for their contribution. Today’s military women, as the story points out, serve in combat, while our military mothers couldn’t as much. But the generations that came before us did what they could, gladly, and as volunteers to pave the way for todays’ women to serve the way they wish to.

The msnbc article says,

“Most of them are in wheelchairs and they are ill. All of their hair is white, and I look and I think, who knows how long we’ve got left. We just want to do our best while we’re here,” said Lorraine Dieterle, 84, a World War II veteran stationed in New York as a photographer for the Coast Guard who volunteers at the memorial.”

In 1997 when the current memorial was dedicated, a 100 year-old retired soldier named Freida Mae Hardin spoke to the crowd of 40,000 onlookers. I expect she’s gone now, but what she wanted was clear. If you have any way of getting involved or of helping, please do it.

More:

On rape in the military

For families, war is about fear

Resources for military women and military families

This morning, anyone caring to tune in could be subjected to Sarah Palin and Oprah Winfrey at the same time. Sarah is hawking her new book because it will make her a ton of money. Oprah is hawking anything she thinks will support her flagging viewership - and right now that something is probably Sarah Palin.

You can’t turn to any medium right now and not get Sarah and Oprah, Oprah and Sarah. Sara in short shorts on the cover of Newsweek. There’s presidential material. Oprah, thank goodness, not in shorts. Don’t kid yourself. Sarah is not presidential material, nor is she interested in being president of anything. She’d probably quit in mid term. She is interested in a couple of million bucks that will come from the sale of this book. Why will the book sell? Ya got me.

But it will. In a time when Pulitzer Prize-winning writers are unemployed and long-respected publication go toes up, this gunk will sell so Sarah Palin and her co-writer(s) pd their bank accounts. Perhaps it’s just another indication that the demand for quality writing is giving way to junk content. Perhaps just salacious curiosity. Ms. Palin, like her never-quite-made-it son-in-law, trashes lots of people in her book. Readers like seeing people trashed.

As for Oprah - she’s just getting really scary. She books anyone who is controversial, difficult to look at, tragic, or slimy. Then she either grills them or hugs them, depending on what her handlers tell her will make for a better audience reaction.

I used to like Oprah for her sort of rogue, er, maverick, positioning. Now, she’s just stale. Sarah? I’m embarrassed for her each time she opens her mouth. I can do without both of them - and I did, choosing reruns of Jerry Seinfeld over Oprah’s show this morning. What was it Letterman said? Something about the Mayan prediction of the end of the world in 2012 being linked to any possibility that Sarah could be president. Whew. Could you tolerate the simpering and giggling for four years? What a thought. Bring on the Mayans.

The United States National Women’s Hall of Fame is a delightful place to get virtually lost for an afternoon. I tripped over this site today as I was browsing the Web and I couldn’t tear myself away. You don’t have to leave your comfy chair, or go out in the rain. Just click on the alphabetical links and read about women who have impacted our lives.

• I read about how Lucille Ball was not only a comedian, but a true entrepreneur and the first woman head of a major studio.
• I learned that Mary McLeod Bethune was an African-American teacher who, with only $1.50, began a school to help educate other young African-American women. Maybe she wasn’t as flamboyant as Oprah, but she did her part.
• Leontine Kelly was the first female Methodist bishop. Awesome power for us.
• Ida Tarbell’s expose of the Standard Oil Trust in the 1904 publication, The History of the Standard Oil Company prompted the federal government to prosecute and break up Standard Oil for anti-trust violations. She became an icon of journalism.

The articles are very short - teasers, really, with nuggets of susinct information in them. They are often linked to larger pieces, and can inspire you to browse. Learn about women. Read a few of these to the children you care about, girls or boys.

You might become inspired to write a brief or two in your social media spaces about the women who have inspured your life.

Women keep each other afloat (Photo by Oddsock)

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Doing some housekeeping today, I dove way back into the contents of Women Day By Day and found some articles our newer readers may have overlooked. Here, then, are some of the best web articles for women from Women Day By Day.

Sexy Stories for a Hot Summer Beach Read

Women in need find recovery and independence

Low Cost Activity Books for Young Children and Moms

Pro-Life Thinking: Understanding the Basics

Pro-Choice: The Basic Issues

Aging Tissue Can Be a Risk Factor for Breast Cancer

Lose Weight or Lose Yourself - Truths About Dieting

Resources for Military Women, Women Veterans and Families

Women-Fix Your Own PC? Windows Ailing? Tips from Computer Guru

Our site for writers and freelancers

Take a look at some of these and then dip into our archives. Tell me what you think - add your comments or contact me about doing a guest blog! I want to engage with you.

Please take some time amid the picnics, boating, partying and fun this weekend to have a moment of silence in which you honor our veterans and service women and men this Memorial Day.

I honor my father, R. Buczek, U. S. Navy Corpsman WWII, Pearl Harbor

I honor my mother, M. Braun, U.S. Marines WWII, Pearl Harbor

I honor my brother R.J. B. U. S. navy Viet Nam

I honor my brother W.D. B., U.S. Army, Germany

I honor my husband, D.W.P., U.S. Army, Viet Nam

I honor my son A.D.K., U.S Army, Operation Iraqii Freedom

I honor my daughter, E.M.K., U.S. Navy

I honor my son, M.A.K., U.S. Federal Government

I honor my niece, K.B., U.S. Air Force, in training

We are fortunate enough to have lost none of our family to these wars and services, but that doesn’t mean we have escaped unscathed. I offer my gratitude, pride and respect to all of mine, and to all the others who have chosen to serve.

We will remember.

CSI, or one of those shows, talked about rape kits last week. Their premise was that thousands, even tens of thousands of rape evidence kits languish on dusty shelves throughout the U.S. Those kits have never been processed. I was astonished, and deeply upset.

Kits unprocessed means women who have been assaulted at the most traumatic level are waiting for justice. And justice sits immobilized. If the kit isn’t processed, chances are the perpetrator has been released. No trail took place.

The victim is trying to move on, but has no closure. She went through an incredibly tragic trauma and will have to go through it all over again if the authorities ever get down to processing the evidence of a crime committed against her. Look, put yourself in the position of these victims. How devalued would you feel?

But that’s just a TV show. Right? Not. I found a real story in exactly the same vein written by Courtney E. Martin. Martin is a columnist on youth and political culture at The American Prospect Online and a blogger at Feministing. She authored Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters and is part of the Progressive Women

It isn’t tough for me to say I admire Michelle Obama - even before she was first lady I thought the woman’s obvious class, intelligence and power were admirable. I’m delighted by Michelle Obama’s personality and capable elan. Ms. Obama is an awesome mother - a role model. We’re fortunate to have her in Washington and projecting our image around the world.

Someone challeneged me the other day saying, didn’t I think she and her huband Barrack fall short of the American royalty image portrayed by the Kennedys and Camelot (!)? And don’t I agree that Michelle can’t hold a candle to Princess Diana’s class and gentility?

For the love of God, or whatever higher power, no — I categorically do not think Michelle Obama falls short. What I see is she isn’t full of herself, or more concerned about appearances than about the real issues facing women and families here. Or anywhere.

She is gracious and caring. You can see it from a mile away. She doesn’t sleep around (or at the very least, not in front of the world…). Her husband isn’t a philanderer. Their family isn’t connected to organizaed crime or to questionable money. they haven’t dropped nayone off a bridge yet. Nor do they show the world distain for each other or for their marriage.

I am so weary of whiners who can’t see the postivies in anything…

There’s a good read in Forbes, called to my attention by the Women’s Media Center. The article is Power Woman: First Lady Politics. Have a read and pay attention to some of the details if you feel like America has any reason to be concerned about our First Lady.

What is your opinion of Michelle Obama? How do you think she’s representing us as a nation of people, families and parents? Does she help empower women?