Veterans Day offers a moment each year to honor the men and women who answered the call to serve. For Helene Brown, a 91-year-old Waukesha resident, it is also a chance to make sure women veterans are not left out of that recognition.
Brown has dedicated years to advocating for women who served in the military, a cause shaped by her own time in uniform.
"Something deep inside her called her to serve her country, for the country she believed to be, so she stepped forward," Brown said.
Her road into the military was anything but typical. Brown enlisted in her 30s, and while in her 50s she served as a combat nurse during Operation Desert Storm.
Even with that record of service, Brown said she has at times struggled to be acknowledged as a combat veteran.
"They just tend to ignore the women," Brown said.
Brown was recently recognized for her service by Franklin's American Legion Post 192. She received a quilt from the nonprofit Quilts of Honor, presented alongside dozens of other men and women who had served in the military.
Her advocacy on behalf of women veterans goes back decades. In the 1990s, Brown helped open the Military Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C., and she has kept pushing for women veterans ever since. That work includes encouraging them to apply for Honor Flights, which give veterans the chance to travel to Washington and visit the memorials honoring their service and sacrifice.
"I'm trying to recognize women's service over the years and what we have done to help protect our country," Brown said.
For Brown, the mission carries on long after her own military service came to an end. On Veterans Day, her story stands as a reminder that honoring those who defended the nation means recognizing every veteran who stepped forward, including the women whose contributions have too often gone unnoticed.
