The Lynn Veterans Council will once again celebrate and remember the sacrifices of our nation’s female veterans with its Annual Women Veterans Memorial Ceremony on Friday, October 3 beginning at 11 a.m. in the City Hall lobby.
According to Jeffrey Hollet of the Lynn Veterans Office, the ceremony this year will feature U.S. Army Major Marisol A. Chalas, the country’s first female Black Hawk pilot and a former resident of Lynn.
Major Chalas will be returning to Lynn from her current duty assignment as the U.S. Army Exchange Officer to the Canadian Army Doctrine Training Center in Kingston, Ontario.
According to her military biography, Chalas moved to Lynn from the Dominican Republic with her family when she was just nine-years old. She began her military career by enlisting in the Army in July 1990 and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Aviation branch in 2001, from the Georgia Military Institute Officer Candidate School.
Major Chalas joined the Army Reserves in 2008 and has served in various leadership positions including as a Battle Captain and Platoon Leader flying missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Most recently, Major Chalas was named to the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the school from which she received a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering early in her career.
The goal of the Annual Women Veterans Memorial Ceremony is to celebrate the accomplishments, milestones and sacrifices made by women military veterans over the years.
For decades, the United States military barely recognized the contributions of its female members.
The establishment of the Annual Women Veterans Memorial Ceremony in Lynn helps put that practice in the past, and offers a chance for local residents to thank and appreciate the accomplishment of women in the military.