Female veterans tell their stories at Lincoln Veterans Parade

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) -The city of Lincoln honored its veterans and this year, the parade created a special focus on honoring women veterans.

There are over 2 million women veterans in the United States, and 12,000 of them are in Nebraska. On Sunday, hundreds gathered in downtown Lincoln to honor and thank those who have served.

Families, children and veterans alike gathered on the north side of the Capital building for the fourth annual Lincoln Veterans Parade. Women veterans shared stories of often being overlooked or not recognized as a veteran due to things like growing their hair out after service. For Virginia Yoder, a retired senior chief in the U.S. Coast Guard, Sunday was important for her to bring awareness to women like her.

“We have some instances where we’ll go to represent ourselves and people will say, ‘oh, is your husband a veteran?’ and so it’s kind of nice to have a parade that honors women veterans,” Yoder said.

The Offutt Honor Guard led the parade line to the capitol, featuring all women. Some organizations along the parade route included the Girl Scouts, the Lincoln High Marching Band and several veteran outreach agencies.

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