KPBS Midday Edition

On This Memorial Day, Nonprofit Brings Attention To Female Fallen Soldiers

By Brooke Ruth / Senior Producer of Audio News, Mark Sauer / Host, The Roundtable

Published May 25, 2020 at 11:24 AM PDT

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

Recruit Crystal Townsend, 35, said the Army provided a more diverse range of career options than other military branches. She hopes to go into military intelligence.

Nonprofit Brings Attention To Women Veterans On This Memorial Day

The Southern California-based nonprofit Foundation for Women Warriors wants to bring attention to female veterans on this Memorial Day.

"Over the years, women have grown to serve in increasing numbers in the military, and that means our sacrifice has also increased," said Jodie Grenier, the CEO of the nonprofit. "There's a number of women who have been killed in action during the last two decades of conflicts that we've been participating in and so it is ever so important to honor all of those who've made the ultimate sacrifice, but also give special recognition to the women who have endured and sacrificed for our freedom."

Become a KPBS sponsor

In addition to honoring female veterans, the organization, based in Carlsbad and North Hollywood, provides emergency financial assistance, help paying for childcare and women-focused professional development to female veterans.

"We intimately know that women have been historically underserved and that there's a number of issues that compound the complexity of being a woman that transitions out of the military," Grenier said.

Grenier joined Midday Edition on Monday to share the stories of female veterans.

KPBS Midday Edition

Brooke Ruth

Brooke Ruth is the senior producer of Audio News. She previously served as a producer for "KPBS Midday Edition" and a web producer. Before joining KPBS, Brooke was a web editor for four newspapers and a local television station. She began her career in news at the Imperial Valley Press. She has also been part of the web teams at the Napa Valley Register, North County Times, and U-T San Diego. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at UCLA in psychology, she worked on the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

See stories by Brooke Ruth

Mark Sauer

A newspaperman for more than 30 years, Mark Sauer joined KPBS in October 2010 and previously served as the host of the KPBS Roundtable. He spent 27 years as a reporter and editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune after stints at The Houston Post and at two papers in his native Michigan. A features/human-interest writer in the UT's Currents section for many years, Mark also spent about a third of his UT career as an editor and reporter on the Metro Desk. He has covered a wide range of events: Wild fires in Southern California and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast; Super Bowls and the World Series; foster care and child-abuse issues; the Roman Catholic Diocese's sexual-abuse scandal and bankruptcy; royal visits of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Princess Diana; Republican and Democratic national conventions; high-profile criminal trials; and many other stories, from the silly to the sublime. Along the way, he interviewed everyone from presidents to pan-handlers. His work exposing the false accusations and prosecutions of several San Diegans for murder, rape and child abuse garnered Pulitzer Prize nominations and many regional and local journalism awards, including Best in the West, the Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism and several San Diego and California bar-association awards. Mark has a degree in journalism from Michigan State University.

See stories by Mark Sauer