MACOMB – There are currently more than two million women veterans living in the United States, with females making up the fastest-growing group of veterans, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and three of those two million female veterans recently took part in a Great River Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
Macomb residents Bertha Fink (who at 90 was the oldest participant), Tina Belz and Brenda Miller were on board for the first all-women veterans Great River Honor Flight's 76th Mission to the nation's capital. The trio joined 33 other women for a two-day journey to Washington, D.C. June 18-19. Of the veterans, five served during the Vietnam era, 21 during the Gulf War and 11 served between those conflicts.
According to the Great River Honor Flight page, the idea for this special all-female mission came from numerous conversations between Maria Poindexter, commander of the American Legion Post 55 in Hannibal and the Great River Honor Flight Board.
On June 18, the all-women mission gathered in Hannibal where they toured historic sites before departing at 1 a.m. June 19 for Washington, D.C. Following a special breakfast served by the American Red Cross in Hannibal, the group boarded buses for St. Louis, where they flew out around 6 a.m. and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland a few hours later to begin their special day. Participants came from 13 Missouri counties and four Illinois counties, along with a few from Texas, California and North Carolina. The D.C. trip included a bus tour of the city, visits to the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean memorials, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and a special recognition ceremony at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Miller, a U.S. Army veteran, served as a Russian linguist in military intelligence from 1984-1988. Her interest in the Army – and studying linguistics – came naturally as both her father and brother served in the Army and she studied German throughout high school. It was a high score on an Army aptitude test that got Miller into the military intelligence field.
During her tour of duty, following a year-long intensive training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, CA where she learned to speak and interpret Russian, she was stationed in Germany. In Wildflecken, it was Miller's job to listen to Russian troops and transcribe their conversations to ensure they were only participating in training exercises and not carrying out any covert operations. Following her military service, Miller attended college at the University of New Hampshire, and after working briefly as a fundraiser at a small private college on the east coast, Miller joined the American Cancer Society (ACS), where she has worked for 27 years. Today, Miller is a senior director wealth consultant with the ACS.
It was Belz who told both Miller and Fink about the upcoming all-women honor flight. She mentioned the experience to Miller around the first of the year, and with that, the trio was signed up.
'When we got off the plane in Baltimore, there was a town crier in costume who announced our arrival and welcomed the first all-female Great River Honor Flight to D.C. It was really cool. When we walked off the plane, there were people with flags, waving and clapping,' Miller said, describing the experience. 'It was very emotional and very sweet.'
At the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, each veteran of the honor flight group was recognized in a special program. The women received a commemoration, which featured a photo of their time in the service, a personal narrative, dates served and medals earned.
'For the women who were a part of this, the program was a very necessary recognition,' Miller added. 'Female veterans can be overlooked and we played a very important role in keeping America free. As for the honor flight, every veteran – male and female – should take advantage of the honor flight if they can. I want to thank everyone who donates to the honor flight because those donations allow us, the veterans, and a guardian/caregiver to take part in this at no cost. We were really well taken care of. I can't say enough about this experience.' Miller's son, Ethan, who is currently serving in the Navy, received special leave in order to accompany his mother as her guardian.
Fink was a U.S. Navy nurse, serving from 1957 until 1959. She had previously gone through a three-year nursing program in Topeka, KS at Stormont-Vail when she decided she wanted to go back to school.
She went to The University of Kansas for one year where she worked at the student health hospital/clinic, and from there, she went to the University of Colorado to finish her degree. It was in Colorado where her roommates happened to be an Air Force nurse and a Navy nurse, both of whom decided that Fink needed to be an Air Force nurse. While she tried to enlist in the Air Force numerous times, it was serendipity when none of the appointments with the Air Force recruiters panned out for one reason or the other and she enlisted in the Navy. After training for six weeks in Long Island, NY, she was assigned to Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia.
'Rodney (Fink), who became my husband, had been in the hospital for a bad case of tonsillitis and he was one of the first people I met at the naval hospital,' Bertha shared. 'I not only met my future husband when I was in the Navy, I had tremendous experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the service. As a young nurse, I was able to work in several departments (neurology, surgery, urology, pediatrics, ICU and outpatient), that wouldn't have happened in civilian life. Going into the Navy was meant to be for me in more ways than one.'
About eight months after meeting Rodney, the pair married. In those days, Fink explained, if a woman in the service wanted to have a family, she had to resign her commission. After she was honorably discharged, Rodney had one more year to fulfill, so Bertha worked in civilian hospitals in Norfolk, VA. After they moved to Macomb, both Finks worked at the University, Rodney teaching agriculture (and later serving as the agriculture chair and later as a dean) and Bertha teaching for a few years in health sciences before becoming a full-time homemaker. It was during the recent honor flight that Fink said she really reflected even more on her time, along with other veterans' time, serving their country.
'As we viewed the war memorials, the changing of the guard and the Iwo Jima statue, I really thought about the tremendous impact on the cost of war, the loss of lives and disruption of families,' Fink said. 'It really reinforced for me what the Lord said about us being our brother's keepers. We should actively seek peace in every possible way. The cost is too great to not have peace.'
Rodney, who passed away February 2023, is interred at Arlington National Cemetery. While Bertha wasn't able to see his burial site during the honor flight trip, the Fink family will take a trip back to D.C. to visit Rodney's grave at the storied veterans' cemetery. There was one family member waiting to surprise Bertha when she returned with the group to St. Louis: her daughter, Lori Fink and her dog, Lucy, met the honor flight women as they got off the plane. Her daughter, Lisa Moore (who was in the Air Force for 20 years as a hospital administrator), helped her mother complete the necessary paperwork for the experience.
'It was so neat to see Lori and Lucy waiting for me, and they were in Hannibal, too, to meet us when we arrived! I was amazed at the number of people from all walks of life involved in this experience – auxiliary members, students, scouts, motorcycle riders, business leaders, so many people,' Fink concluded. 'It was an unbelievable display of interest in honoring veterans, especially since they had to get up and be there at 3 a.m. to welcome us back. It was very special and truly touched my heart.'
Belz, the woman who got the Macomb ladies on the all-women mission, wanted to see the world as a young woman, so she joined the Army in 1974, serving as a specialist four at 18th Finance near the I.G.Farben building in Frankfurt, Germany until 1976. When she was in the service, she was considered a WAC (Women's Army Corps) member and trained with all women at Ft. McClellan. By the time Belz was honorably discharged two years later, the WACs was being dissolved, with men and women completing basic training together. She returned to WIU studying German, and then it was back to Frankfurt where she worked for the Department of Defense. In 1980, Belz returned to Illinois, married and worked for FmHA in Princeton, and four years later, she reenlisted in the Army Reserves and became a Chief Warrant Officer in Administration, serving until 1994.
'In 1984, my then-husband and I and our two children shared one car, and we wanted a second car. There was a reserve unit in Peru, IL, so I reenlisted. It was good pay for one weekend a month so we could get that second car,' she explained. 'It turned into a full-time job for me as I was hired as the facility manager and unit administrator at the United States Army Reserve Center in Peru.'
While Belz is out of the service, she remains active in military-related groups, including the Macomb American Legion and Daughters of the American Revolution. These organizations donate funds toward the Peoria and the Great River Honor Flights so Belz was aware of the program, and her husband, Marty, attended the 73rd Great River Honor Flight in September with Belz's son, Justin Ferris as his guardian (her daughter-in-law, Kristen Ferris, went as Tina's guardian).
'One of the honor flight organizers told me I should go (on an honor flight) and I told her I would when they had an all-women honor flight. My former teacher and mentor, Beth Stiffler, had been a Navy Lieutenant Commander and often encouraged me to submit my story to the Military Women’s Memorial located at the base of Arlington Cemetery,' Belz said. 'I was surprised when I got the call telling me they were finally hosting an all-women mission. I knew Brenda and Bertha had also been in the service, so I let them know about it, and we were all in.
'As a Vietnam-era veteran, it really meant a lot to go on this trip and see the memorials and the names; it's very touching. The Vietnam-era veterans were not really welcomed home, so I have a soft spot for these veterans. They lost so much and they weren't celebrated. I feel like this was a celebration to actually be there and see the memorial and recognize those who gave all,' she added. 'It's really very touching to see all of this and be a part of it. And the connections with my fellow women veterans – we're a small family in a big world – was great, it was so good to be together. Not to mention the camaraderie and bonding with Brenda and Bertha and their families. It was awe-inspiring and makes me want to do more to continue to support this effort. It was an honor to be a part of this and be with others who love our country like I do.'
The first Great River Honor Flight was chartered Veterans Day in 2009, with its first mission scheduled on April 13, 2010. Now with the latest trip, the Great River Honor Flight has flown 2,451 local veterans to Washington, D.C.
For more information or to donate to the Great River Honor Flight, visit greatriverhonorflight. com.
