Latest news with #Women'sArmyCorps
02-07-2025
- Health
Military honors bestowed on Illinois veteran identified nearly a decade after death
CHICAGO -- Standing near the gravestone for the relative he never met, Mark Bailey accepted the crisply folded American flag from the Army officer, hugged it to his chest and closed his eyes. Though the person he called his aunt — born Reba Caroline Bailey — had been estranged, missing for decades and died in 2015 as an unidentified ward of the state, he felt connection and a sense of closure. 'I want to let Reba know we're part of the circle and part of the family,' he said. Mark Bailey was among dozens of attendees at an unusual funeral service with military honors this week for an Illinois veteran with memory problems so severe that they died an unnamed person. The ceremony became possible because of an extraordinary cold case investigation that identified the 75-year-old postmortem. Investigators unearthed the mystery of how the Women's Army Corps veteran ended up homeless in Chicago with few recollections of their own life, aside from identifying as a man named Seven. 'I never knew I had this family member,' said Mark Bailey's 19-year-old son Cole, who also drove from central Illinois for the service. 'It's nice to know I have somebody that's been found and isn't lost anymore.' Since the investigation's conclusion, the numbered cement cylinder that marked the unidentified grave has been replaced with a rectangular plague with a cross that reads: 'Reba Caroline Bailey, PFC US Army.' The case of Seven Doe, the name appearing in some official records, came to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office in 2023. The unidentified body belonged to a person who died of natural causes in an assisted living facility. They were a ward of the state, unable to remember a legal name or family. The cause of death was heart disease with diabetes and dementia as contributing factors and the body was buried in a section for unclaimed people at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery on Chicago's Far South Side. The medical examiner marked it as the 4,985th case of the year and put the number on the headstone. In 2023, investigators ran fingerprints taken postmortem and found a 1961 Army record for the veteran, formerly of Danville, about 140 miles (225.31 kilometers) south of Chicago. The search for close living relatives came up short; five siblings and an ex-husband had all died. The family members they did locate had only heard stories of a relative who had disappeared. After making the identification, detectives ordered a new headstone with the same name on military records. It was quietly installed last year. Commander Jason Moran, who oversees the sheriff's missing persons unit, said it was rewarding to make sure the identified veteran got the benefit of a funeral with military honors. 'It's just a privilege to be able to help families and really close the story,' said Moran, whose work on other high-profile cold cases has gained notoriety. Several generations of the Bailey family have told stories about what happened to their missing relative since leaving the military to get married. They've wondered about the possibility of children or their relative's gender identity. Some believe that there was a family dispute but the stories about its origins vary from the decision to join the military to sexual orientation. Family members tried to find their missing relative over the years, including Amanda Ingram, who would have been a great-niece. She maintains a meticulous family tree with Census records and photos. 'It's amazing how somebody can just disappear like that and not know what happened,' Ingram said this week. 'I'm pretty sure we're never going to know the details.' On a winter day in the late 1970s, a person wearing a military-style jacket and aviator cap was curled up on the porch of St. Francis Catholic Worker House in Chicago. Residents who stayed there at the time told the Associated Press that the person asked to be called Seven, spoke in the third person and identified as a man. Seven quickly became the house cook. The meals drew crowds to the neighborhood where several homeless advocacy groups operated, according to former residents' accounts. Investigators have tried to explain the memory loss and floated theories about brain damage related to a 1950 car accident that killed Bailey's mother or to military service. That included stints at Fort Ord in California, a polluted former Army base, and Fort McClellan in Alabama, formerly used for chemical weapons training, and where the federal government has acknowledged potential exposure to toxins. Neither family, investigators nor residents of the worker house figured out the meaning behind the name Seven. Ingram, who lives in Alabama, couldn't make the ceremony this week. But she asked volunteers from an Illinois chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution to attend on her behalf. 'Everybody who comes to visit that cemetery will pass by it and know who she was,' said Ingram, whose detailed family trees include records using Bailey's birth name. Mark Bailey said he and his son wanted to bring something to the service that would honor both parts of their long-lost relative's life. They had heard their relative had an affinity for the Cubs and looked for a jersey with the number '7' on it, but settled on a blue team cap. They set it on the headstone. The service held Tuesday included prayers, a 21-gun salute and a bugler playing taps — a chilling, 24-note salute that is traditionally played at funerals of U.S. military veterans. Attendees included Cook County sheriff's investigators and Archdiocese of Chicago staff. 'I just wish the rest of them could be identified as well,' Mark Bailey told those attending while pointing to the rows of unidentified graves. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said the ceremony left him nearly speechless, saying the Illinois veteran deserved military honors and a flag from the U.S. president 'instead of being forgotten and left as an anonymous number somewhere.' Relatives said they planned to eventually display the flag at the American Legion in Potomac, near where the Bailey family has roots. Mark Bailey said the acknowledgement of military service was particularly meaningful with so many veterans in the extended family. He hoped the memory would stay with his son Cole, who plans to enlist. 'For him, it'll be something he'll have forever,' he said.
Winnipeg Free Press
02-07-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Military honors bestowed on Illinois veteran identified nearly a decade after death
CHICAGO (AP) — Standing near the gravestone for the relative he never met, Mark Bailey accepted the crisply folded American flag from the Army officer, hugged it to his chest and closed his eyes. Though the person he called his aunt — born Reba Caroline Bailey — had been estranged, missing for decades and died in 2015 as an unidentified ward of the state, he felt connection and a sense of closure. 'I want to let Reba know we're part of the circle and part of the family,' he said. Mark Bailey was among dozens of attendees at an unusual funeral service with military honors this week for an Illinois veteran with memory problems so severe that they died an unnamed person. The ceremony became possible because of an extraordinary cold case investigation that identified the 75-year-old postmortem. Investigators unearthed the mystery of how the Women's Army Corps veteran ended up homeless in Chicago with few recollections of their own life, aside from identifying as a man named Seven. 'I never knew I had this family member,' said Mark Bailey's 19-year-old son Cole, who also drove from central Illinois for the service. 'It's nice to know I have somebody that's been found and isn't lost anymore.' Since the investigation's conclusion, the numbered cement cylinder that marked the unidentified grave has been replaced with a rectangular plague with a cross that reads: 'Reba Caroline Bailey, PFC US Army.' The cold case The case of Seven Doe, the name appearing in some official records, came to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office in 2023. The unidentified body belonged to a person who died of natural causes in an assisted living facility. They were a ward of the state, unable to remember a legal name or family. The cause of death was heart disease with diabetes and dementia as contributing factors and the body was buried in a section for unclaimed people at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery on Chicago's Far South Side. The medical examiner marked it as the 4,985th case of the year and put the number on the headstone. In 2023, investigators ran fingerprints taken postmortem and found a 1961 Army record for the veteran, formerly of Danville, about 140 miles (225.31 kilometers) south of Chicago. The search for close living relatives came up short; five siblings and an ex-husband had all died. The family members they did locate had only heard stories of a relative who had disappeared. After making the identification, detectives ordered a new headstone with the same name on military records. It was quietly installed last year. Commander Jason Moran, who oversees the sheriff's missing persons unit, said it was rewarding to make sure the identified veteran got the benefit of a funeral with military honors. 'It's just a privilege to be able to help families and really close the story,' said Moran, whose work on other high-profile cold cases has gained notoriety. Seven's mysterious life Several generations of the Bailey family have told stories about what happened to their missing relative since leaving the military to get married. They've wondered about the possibility of children or their relative's gender identity. Some believe that there was a family dispute but the stories about its origins vary from the decision to join the military to sexual orientation. Family members tried to find their missing relative over the years, including Amanda Ingram, who would have been a great-niece. She maintains a meticulous family tree with Census records and photos. 'It's amazing how somebody can just disappear like that and not know what happened,' Ingram said this week. 'I'm pretty sure we're never going to know the details.' On a winter day in the late 1970s, a person wearing a military-style jacket and aviator cap was curled up on the porch of St. Francis Catholic Worker House in Chicago. Residents who stayed there at the time told the Associated Press that the person asked to be called Seven, spoke in the third person and identified as a man. Seven quickly became the house cook. The meals drew crowds to the neighborhood where several homeless advocacy groups operated, according to former residents' accounts. Investigators have tried to explain the memory loss and floated theories about brain damage related to a 1950 car accident that killed Bailey's mother or to military service. That included stints at Fort Ord in California, a polluted former Army base, and Fort McClellan in Alabama, formerly used for chemical weapons training, and where the federal government has acknowledged potential exposure to toxins. Neither family, investigators nor residents of the worker house figured out the meaning behind the name Seven. Ingram, who lives in Alabama, couldn't make the ceremony this week. But she asked volunteers from an Illinois chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution to attend on her behalf. 'Everybody who comes to visit that cemetery will pass by it and know who she was,' said Ingram, whose detailed family trees include records using Bailey's birth name. Honoring a complicated life Mark Bailey said he and his son wanted to bring something to the service that would honor both parts of their long-lost relative's life. They had heard their relative had an affinity for the Cubs and looked for a jersey with the number '7' on it, but settled on a blue team cap. They set it on the headstone. The service held Tuesday included prayers, a 21-gun salute and a bugler playing taps — a chilling, 24-note salute that is traditionally played at funerals of U.S. military veterans. Attendees included Cook County sheriff's investigators and Archdiocese of Chicago staff. 'I just wish the rest of them could be identified as well,' Mark Bailey told those attending while pointing to the rows of unidentified graves. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said the ceremony left him nearly speechless, saying the Illinois veteran deserved military honors and a flag from the U.S. president 'instead of being forgotten and left as an anonymous number somewhere.' Relatives said they planned to eventually display the flag at the American Legion in Potomac, near where the Bailey family has roots. Mark Bailey said the acknowledgement of military service was particularly meaningful with so many veterans in the extended family. He hoped the memory would stay with his son Cole, who plans to enlist. 'For him, it'll be something he'll have forever,' he said.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Okaloosa County announces two statues for Women Veterans' Day
OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – June 12, 2025, marks the third Annual Women Veterans' Day ceremony at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center for Okaloosa County. According to a news release, Okaloosa County officials announced two new statues will be unveiled. At 8 a.m. on June 12, a wreath-laying ceremony will be held at the Women Veterans Monuments at Veterans Park, with Commander 1st Operations Mission Support Group Col. Kristen Wood as this year's keynote speaker. The State of Florida recognized Women Veterans Day by proclamation from Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021. It is a day that acknowledges President Truman's signing of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act that established the Women's Army Corps in the Regular Army and authorized enlistment and appointment of women in the Regular Air Force, Regular Navy, and Marine Corps. Wellness Wednesday: Weight, Muscle, and Endurance 'This event has become a beloved tradition for everyone in our community to recognize and appreciate the women who have served in our military since the Revolutionary War,' Okaloosa County Vice Chairman Carolyn Ketchel said. The new statues will recognize Captain Linda Bray and Florence Ebersole Smith Finch. Captain Linda Bray, who led her company during a firefight in Panama in 1989 when it was illegal for women to engage in combat. She was recently awarded the Bronze Star with V Device for her actions. Florence Ebersole Smith Finch worked with the Philippine underground to smuggle supplies to POWs during WWII. She joined the Coast Guard after being imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese and was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon and the Medal of Freedom. The statues will be officially placed at a later date. The Women Veterans Monuments at Veteran Park were unveiled by Okaloosa County in 2021. Eight women who served in combat are honored with life-size bronze statues. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Thank You for Your Service, Sarah Trail
MOORE, S.C. (WSPA) – It wasn't an easy life for Sarah Trail 'I remember going to school and putting cardboard in my shoes,' Trail told 7NEWS. 'Because they were so worn out.' Her mom came from the mills, and her dad was a farmer. 'We lived out in the country, and we had a horse and pigs and chickens,' Trail said. 'We had to take care of them.' Trail said one of her teachers saw potential in her and suggested she go to college. 'At the time, it was the only outlet for me,' Trail shared. 'We didn't have a telephone and I couldn't drive. I didn't have a car, and I couldn't go to any interviews.' So she followed that potential right to a recruiter. 'There had been a man, you know, come around trying to get people signed up,' Trail explained. 'And so I'd been thinking about it.' Trail enlisted in the Women's Army Corps. She said she knew it was a gateway to becoming a nurse. 'I learned a lot about medical care, and it helped me a whole lot when I was in nursing school,' Trail said. 'I was advanced to what all the other girls were because I was exposed to that when I was in the military.' Which, for Trail, was a two-year contract in Texas. 'In training, you learned to shoot a gun. You learn to march,' said Trail. It was during the Vietnam War era. Trail said she worked as a nurse in general practice, typically helping families of soldiers fighting in the war. 'Colds, sore throats,' she said. 'In the outpatient clinic, sometimes I'd go in there and fill in. Give them shots for them to go overseas.' Sure enough, that would open the door for Trail to continue her passion in the Upstate at Spartanburg Regional. Trail would spend 35 years there, until she'd eventually retire. 'You have to have a lot of compassion and a lot of stamina,' Trail said when describing what it takes to be a nurse. 'Be in good health and really desire to help people.' And drive, Trail added. It's something that came naturally to Trail as she set out to provide a life for herself. 'I didn't make the best or most money at the time, but I saved where I could,' she said. 'I bought the house by myself. I educated my son.' Trail said nowadays it's a bit quieter. But she's at peace with it. 'I like to garden and grow flowers. I do like to read a lot,' she shared. 'I accomplished a lot in life.' And keeping herself company with her doggie, Miss Dolly. 'When I go from one room to another, she goes with me.' Sarah Trail, thank you for your service. To nominate a veteran like Sarah Trail to be featured in our Thank You for Your Service series, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Governor Healey proclaims March 19 as Edith Nourse Rogers Day
BOSTON (WWLP) – March 19 has been officially named Edith Nourse Rogers Day, and the State House is celebrating with an exhibition on the Women's Army Corps. Nourse Rogers was the first ever Massachusetts woman elected to Congress, and she used her platform to ensure that women were permitted to serve in the military during and after World War II. Springfield Police Department celebrates six promotions with pinning ceremony 'She knew that women had the capacity to have a formal role within the military, and she fought for it, even if she herself would never have an opportunity to serve in a uniformed capacity,' said Mel Bloom, founder and CEO of 3-5-0 Girls. In order to honor Nourse Rogers' legacy and to uplift the accomplishments of all of Massachusetts women veterans, a series of uniforms will be displayed in the State House, showing that women contributed to war efforts just as much as men did. 'Their service, their sacrifice, their resilience, paved the way for us to be here today,' said Veteran Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Gayle-Bennett. Governor Healey admonished the Trump administration as the Defense Department's removes online pictures of women and people of color veterans as part of their initiative to do away with diversity, equity, and inclusion. 'It's a shocking way of treating men and women who have served,' said the governor. The governor said that Massachusetts will continue to uplift veterans, but it is up to the federal government to reverse course on removing pictures. 22News is celebrating Women's History Month all March long, from veterans to civilians, on air and online. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
