Efforts to recognize women in the military with a statue in Cincinnati’s Eden Park had been moving at “warp speed,” according to a lead organizer.
Now, they’ve hit a speed bump.
The Army says it won’t help with the project because Trump administration rules prohibit involvement in events with “immutable characteristics” such as sex.
That apparently precludes the Army from accepting an invitation to participate in an all-female color guard to celebrate the new statue on this fall’s Veterans Day.
“Obviously, it’s discriminatory,” said Forrest Brandt, a Vietnam veteran from Anderson Township who sent out the invite. “I’m incensed by the answer.”
Colonial Dames want new monument next to faded, forgotten one
Cincinnati installed the nation’s very first memorial to women veterans in 1985. The National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Ohio was behind the effort to place the 12-by-15-inch placard in Eden Park.
Located near a Vietnam War Memorial on Victory Parkway, across from the park’s Twin Lakes area, the memorial reads: “In recognition of the women of the Armed Forces who have volunteered their services that freedom might live.”
Brandt and other rmembers of a local chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America happened to see the faded, modest monument last May during their Memorial Day event at Eden.
Alerted to the state of their plaque, the Colonial Dames in September decided to commission a new memorial.
“To say we are working at warp speed would be an understatement,” said Kathryn Dierckes, spokesperson for local Colonial Dames, a national group focused on historic preservation and patriotic projects.
New memorial will be life-size statue of female soldier
The project had been rolling along.
The Colonial Dames presented their plans to the Cincinnati Parks Board in December. While they’ll need to come back to seek formal approval, the board thought it sounded like a great idea, Parks spokesperson Rocky Merz said.
By the end of March, they commissioned sculptor Austen Brantley of Toledo to create the new monument. He told The Enquirer he plans a life-sized depiction in bronze of a female soldier and is nearly done with a 3D virtual rendering.
He added that he can’t yet share it. “Soon, soon,” he said.
The figure will represent all female military members, from the Civil War onward, Brantley said, instead of any one particular woman.
Air Force in, Army out, others TBA for color-guard
As the monument idea moved forward, Brandt started working on plans for a Nov. 11 event, when the Colonial Dames will present some representation of Brantley’s work.
Given the nature of the task, Brandt said, “We need an all-female color guard.”
The statue itself is scheduled for installation on June 12, 2027, which will be the seventh Women Veterans Day in the state of Ohio.
Brandt, who retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel, asked the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard to provide a woman to serve in a military color guard, carrying and presenting the American flag to all assembled.
The Air Force response was “very welcoming,” Brandt said. “They will do their best to meet our situation.”
He’s waiting to hear back from the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.
The Army was a no.
Army rejects ‘efforts to divide the force’
The Fort Knox Public Affairs Office, speaking for the U.S. Army base located just south of Louisville, Kentucky, sent word that “after further review,” it was unable to “support the color guard request.”
It referenced a Jan. 31, 2025, statement from the newly named Department of War and issued by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
“Recent Office of the Secretary of War guidance prohibits members of the DoW from participating in events or activities that are centered on immutable characteristics (sex, race, ethnicity, etc.),” its email to Brandt said.
The Hegseth policy notes that “unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department’s warfighting mission. Efforts to divide the force – to put one group ahead of another – erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution.”
The public affairs office did not respond to a call and email asking for confirmation of its response to Brandt and whether it still stands by it.
The Army is “running scared,” according to Brandt. “They’re anticipating that if they participate, they’d be going against Pete Hegseth.”
New memorial will complete Dames’ history
The Colonial Dames are focused on their new memorial.
Dierckes wrote a piece for her members’ newsletter earlier this year, recounting how the 1985 marker came to be. A mention of that project’s leader brought more information from her daughter.
Once the new memorial is in place, Dierckes will assemble the entire history of how the Colonial Dames recognized service women in Cincinnati. She plans to submit it to the Cincinnati Historical Society.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Citing Hegseth policy, Army won’t participate in female color guard
Reporting by Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
