SAN DIEGO — The USS Midway Museum held its annual commemoration ceremony Monday to honor all U.S. fallen service members.
This year's theme centered around the 50th year women have been in Naval aviation.
"Back in 1973, the first eight women started groundbreaking flight school. They got winged in 1974. There were six of them, and they became known as 'The First Six.' They went on to fly all different aircraft," said guest speaker Captain Tamara Graham.
Capt. Graham has been a Navy pilot for the past 30 years. She's just a few days away from retiring. She's one of the Navy's first female Naval Aviation Commanding Officers.
During the ceremony, she talked about what's it been like seeing women achieve so much in the military over the past three decades and her hope for the future. She hopes to inspire other young women and men to join the service.
Due to weather, the ceremony did not include a missing man flyover. However, it did have a wreath-laying ceremony.
"If we take one day to think about what's gone into giving us the freedoms we have. As imperfect as this country is, it's the most amazing one on the planet, and we're blessed to be Americans, and we need to remember that," said Capt. Graham.
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