License plate would be a sign of recognition for female vets

Florence Green of Norfolk, England, turned 110 in February, the world's last known living female veteran of World War I. She was a footnote to this week's news about American Frank Buckles, who enlisted in the Army at age 16 in 1917 and died at 110 on Feb. 27. Now Green and Australian Claude Stanley Choules are the sole survivors of the Great War, in which 65 million people were mobilized.

Were age and distance not barriers, Green would have been warmly welcomed at a hearing Monday at the Minnesota Capitol. She likely would have been surprised, too, that 93 years after joining the Women's Royal Air Force at age 17, female veterans are still fighting for recognition.

"People see your Operation Iraqi Freedom license plate and the first thing they do is thank you for your spouse's service," said Melissa Passeretti, 41, of St. Paul. Passeretti, who served two tours in Iraq with the Army National Guard, was one of several women and men who testified before the Veterans Services Division in support of a bill to create a license plate to honor female veterans.

"The stigma is amazing," agreed Gail Kaplan, who has been deployed multiple times with the National Guard. "People acknowledge my current [veteran] plates and ask me what my husband did. But it is I who served."

Under the bill, written by Rep. Bruce Anderson and Sen. Amy Koch, the plates would be available to any woman who has served honorably in any branch or unit of the U.S. Armed Forces. If it passes, Minnesota will be among the first states in the country with such a plate.

After easily passing the first round, the bill moves to the transportation, then finance committee, where supporters are hopeful but readying for roadblocks. Another customized license plate? Doesn't Minnesota have enough plates? What about cost? And road safety?

All questions that should be discussed and dismissed. The price to design and produce an initial 100 female-veteran plates will be a nominal $1,000, said Trista Matascastillo, a women's veteran advocate who is a force behind the bill. Women would pay the same $10 charged for all veteran plates.

"Safety first, recognition after that," agreed Rep. Anderson, who served for four years in the Navy in Vietnam and the Air National Guard for 20 years. "But those female veterans have earned their due."

And continue to earn it. Anderson's daughter, Leah Anderson, is stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where she is a master sergeant. "She's outshining her father," Anderson said proudly. "These women can hold the line."

Matascastillo is grateful for Anderson and Koch's support, as well as that of Reggie Worlds, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, who spoke in support of the bill Monday. "It is very, very important for our female veterans to be recognized for their service," he said.

Minnesota is home to 23,000 female vets. More than 2 million have served or still serve nationwide. "We had this feeling that we needed to do something to raise the recognition level for women," Matascastillo said.

She knows that a license plate is just the first step toward changing perceptions. "This isn't exclusive. It's one great way to do it," she said.