Younger W.Va. women veterans embrace statue design

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A generational gap appears to divide West Virginia’s women veterans when it comes to a statue meant to honor their service.

Older female veterans have led the charge against the design by Charleston sculptor Joe Mullins. They find the woman it depicts too masculine and object to her wearing fatigue pants instead of a skirt.

“From a distance, it would look just like another male statue,” said Dottie Alderman, 79, a former longtime Marine. “The statue is not in any kind of a uniform, really. A T-shirt and a pair of pants doesn’t cut it.”

The woman also wears combat boots and a field belt with pouches. Square-jawed and athletic, her hair tucked beneath a field cap, the standing figure holds a flag in front of her.

Younger veterans are rallying around the design. Julia Fox served in the Gulf War and considers the design “perfect.”

“I only wore a skirt twice, and I was in seven years,” said Fox, who left the Army a sergeant. “It’s a better representation of who we were, when we were in there.”

And as a graphic artist for state government, Fox added, “I’m looking at it from two different angles... Anatomically, (Mullins) is probably one of the best sculptors around.”

Mullins designed the West Virginia Veterans Memorial and its four male statues on the Capitol’s campus. Fox hopes her view prevails with the new committee formed to resolve a years-long impasse over the female statue and its proposed home alongside the memorial. The 37-year-old is one of two female veterans chosen by Mullins for the 11-seat panel, slated to hold its first meeting Wednesday at the Capitol.

Hannah Heishman is another fan of the statue. The Army captain weighed in online from Iraq, where she is serving her second tour, after The Charleston Gazette ran an article from The Associated Press about it.

“I think the planned statue is the best way to represent military women of all ranks, across all branches, and in all conflicts from at least Korea forward,” she wrote on the newspaper’s Web site. “Women in the field do not wear skirts, and we do not go out of our way to be feminine.”

Heishman’s mother, Phoebe Heishman of Moorefield, confirmed that her 31-year-old daughter posted the comment and favors the design. The AP article attracted a dozen other responses on the Gazette’s site, all in support of the statue. Several posters described themselves as veterans or the parent of one.

But Alderman cites the criticism from other veterans who formed a previous committee assigned to assess Mullins’ design. Alderman was part of that effort, but said her Women Marines Association was left out of the formation of the latest panel.

She has since gotten one of her members, a World War II veteran, appointed to one of its seats, she said.

“Personally, I think the statue can’t stand alone to represent women veterans,” said Alderman, who served from 1952 to 1972. “These younger people, they need to think of those who served before and made their service possible.”

Mary Jo Cleland hopes to prove Alderman wrong. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy and an Air Force veteran, the Charleston engineer is Mullins’ other pick for the new committee.

“When I look at it, it represents my best times in the military,” said Cleland, 37. “I see a strong woman. I love it.”