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Rallying the troops

Citrus County Chronicle - 1/30/2017

Diane Dobry

Correspondent

It used to be only once a year that Vietnam-era Air Force veteran Cynthia Holden would meet up with other female veterans at the annual Crystal River Woman's Club Luncheon for Female Veterans. But once a year just didn't feel like it was enough.

Holden, an independent victims advocate and president of the Center for Victim Rights, attended a Citrus County Veterans Advisory Board meeting in November as a guest and was asked if she wanted to say anything.

"I piped up with, 'It would be nice if we could get female vets recognized and get them together so they could meet with other female vets they could relate to,'" she said.

That apparently set things in motion. The group has met twice already at the Veterans Service Office in the Central Citrus Community Center on Marc Knighton Court in Lecanto, with the primary objective of getting together to discuss things and get organized. The second objective is to raise money to have a monument placed in Citrus County that honors women veterans.

"There are all kinds of monuments and memorials, but nothing for the female veterans," Holden said. "I would like to help change that."

Group members want people in the county to become aware that they exist. They plan to identify themselves with T-shirts that make them recognizable to the public. They want to attend veterans events as a group, such as the Purple Heart ceremony on Feb.18 at the Citrus County Auditorium in Inverness.

"A lot of things are going on for veterans in general that the female vets would participate in if they knew about it," Holden said. "We are trying to get together all the emails in one place so that when members hear about events or news, they can share it with the others in the network."

Holden noted that the women in the group range in age from their late 30s to a World War II vet, Florence McCann, who is in her 90s and still going strong.

Thirty women veterans attended the group's last meeting, in January, where the Florida state director representing Military Women Across the Nation was the featured speaker. At the next meeting on March 9, Cheryl Tillman will speak. Tillman is the Women Veterans Program manager for North Florida Veterans Health System and is responsible for ensuring that women veterans are afforded equal access to services in the VA healthcare system. Holden would like to hear from women vets and anyone who has ideas for fundraising to help them get a monument established in Citrus County. Those interested in joining the group or anyone interested in helping raise money can reach Holden at cyn2719@yahoo.com or by calling 352-628-6481.

"This is grass roots, brand new," she said. "We'll see what will work best. I haven't had anyone tell me it's a bad idea, so I think we're on the right track."