The Woman Behind the US’s Only National Memorial for Female Vets

Thirty years after being sent to Vietnam without weapons training, Wilma Vaught started collecting stories of women’s military history.

The museum’s 1860s letter from Clara Barton says it all: “From the storm lashed decks of the Mayflower to the present hour, women have stood like a rock for the welfare and glory of the history of our country … and one might well add: unwritten, unrewarded, and unrecognized.”