Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring March 12 through 18, 2018 as Women’s Military History Week in the State of California:

PROCLAMATION

The first known woman to serve as a soldier in the United States Armed Forces was Deborah Sampson of Massachusetts who, disguised as a man, served in the Revolutionary War. Throughout the history of our Armed Forces, women have been dedicated patriots, willing to put their lives in grave danger to protect our nation and the freedoms of its people.

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 made women, who formerly served only as auxiliaries in times of war, a permanent part of our Armed Forces. Today, women can be found fulfilling nearly all of the duties that were once the exclusive domain of men. In 2008 Ann Dunwoody of the Army became the first woman to be promoted to four-star general, the current highest military rank, and was joined in 2012 by Janet Wolfenbarger of the Air Force. In 2013, the ban on women in combat was lifted, a decision that represented the removal of one of the final barriers to full gender equality in the services.

Women’s Military History Week is dedicated to the women who have sacrificed, and who continue to serve and sacrifice, in the nation’s defense. We salute them for their courage.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim March 12-18 2018, as “Women’s Military History Week.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 9th day of March 2018.

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EDMUND G. BROWN JR.

Governor of California

ATTEST:

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ALEX PADILLA