Amata honors women's service on Women Veterans Appreciation Day

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is highlighting Women Veterans Day (Sunday, 12 June), sometimes called Women Veterans Appreciation Day, a day to honor the service of women who help defend the United States and the cause of freedom. The date commemorates June 12, 1948, the day President Harry Truman signed into law the Women's Armed Services Integration Act.

 “I think of Sgt. Tina Safaira Time, who passed in 2004 at 22 years of age, serving our nation in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” said Congresswoman Aumua Amata. “Women Veterans Day is to specifically honor our women veterans who bravely join our all-volunteer Armed Forces, and uphold their oath to the Constitution. God bless them, and all of our people that experience knowing risk and lengthy separation from these Service Members in our many military families.”

In this file photo, Congresswoman Aumua Amata is visiting a memorial to the heroic life of Sgt. Tina Safaira Time, who grew up in American Samoa, displayed at the Army Women’s Museum in Virginia.  “I think of Sgt. Tina Safaira Time, who passed in 2004 at 22 years of age, serving our nation in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” she said in highlighting Women Veterans Day (Sunday, 12 June), sometimes called Women Veterans Appreciation Day —a day to honor the service of women who help defend the United States and the cause of freedom. The date commemorates June 12, 1948, the day President Harry Truman signed into law the Women's Armed Services Integration Act. [courtesy photo]

American Samoa is known for a high enlistment rate and strong tradition of military service, including many women currently serving and women Veterans. Amata’s role in the U.S. House of Representatives as Vice Ranking Member on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee includes working to uphold the country’s ongoing commitment to all who served.

Every year, there’s a Wreath Laying Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery's Women's Memorial that recognizes the service and sacrifices that women have made through the years as part of the United States Armed Forces.