WEBVTT

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Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote to nurses

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in World War Two to recruit volunteers

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for the war effort . She

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said , I asked for my

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boys what Every mother has a right to

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ask that they be given full and

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adequate nursing care should the time

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come when they need it . You must

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not forget that you have it in your

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power to bring back some who otherwise

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surely will not return .

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Ellen Ainsworth answered that call .

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I knew of the story when I visited the

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cemetery up in the tuna where she's

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buried . When I was walking around the

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cemetery , I was talking to some of the

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staff members . This was this past

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Memorial Day in 2020 and I

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decided at that moment she deserves a

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Medal of Honor . I read her citation .

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I've seen the criteria for receiving

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the Medal of Honor . She met those and

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went beyond that . And the only reason

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she's not getting the Medal of Honor

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was she was a woman

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here with me . I have the Silver Star

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Honor Citation . But I would like to

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read to you by her

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disregard for her own safety and her

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calm assurance . She instilled

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confidence in her assistance and her

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passions , thereby preventing serious

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panic and injury . Her courage under

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fire and her selfless devotion to duty

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were an inspiration to all who

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witnessed her action . It's what you

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do , how you sacrifice yourself the

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actions that you were putting your life

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at risk to save others during a battle

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and engage with foreign adversaries .

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She met those criteria as she put her

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life at risk . And she did . She

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didn't have to go into that field time

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to remove the patients . But that was

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the duty , that was the type of officer

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she is and that's the type of woman she

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is . That's the type of citizen that we

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aspire to be . It's women like her who

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opened the doors later on for me and

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for other female service members to be

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able to serve in the armed forces . She

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was so courageous . And that courage

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was what gave us the impulse to

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continue to want to serve our country

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in the armed forces and for for others

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like myself today um to continue

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serving our nation as a civil servant

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as well . I look at her as a role model

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For all women , not just in the 1940s

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but up until today , women like Ellen

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Ellsworth , our role model for us . The

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fact is we've moved on since the

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segregation days of the U . S .

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Military . We have a woman vice

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president , we have women on the

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Supreme Court , we have governors ,

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mayors of major cities in our own

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military . There's women admirals and

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generals . We have women astronauts .

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They are breaking down the barrier .

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This is correcting history . She

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deserves this because she's paid for

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this in her life .

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Mhm