Woman campaigning to join VFW

HIGHLAND, Ind. -- A 71-year-old woman whose decorated military career qualifies her for membership in the Veterans of Foreign War is campaigning to gain membership in a Hammond, Ind., VFW post.\nSince being rebuffed last month by the all-male VFW Post 802, Norma Horton has taken to the streets in a bright yellow T-shirt with the operative word "sucks" that expresses her disgust.\n"I found you have to stand up to them. If you back off, it only grows worse," said Horton, who served in Heidelberg, Germany, during the Korean War as a member of the Women's Army Corps.\nThen 23, she worked for nine months in 1954 and 1955 as a records clerk, holding the rank of specialist 3rd Class in the now-defunct division of the U.S. Army.\nHer tour of duty overseas earned her an Army of Occupation medal, among other honors. That medal -- along with U.S. citizenship and an honorable discharge -- qualifies her for membership in the VFW.\nHorton, who lives in Highland, just east of Munster, Ind., is a lifetime member. She has belonged to Posts in Villa Grove, Ill., becoming its first female member, and Hessville, Ind., serving in 1991-1992 as post commander.\nMore recently, Horton belonged to the same Terre Haute post as her sister, who recently moved to Maine. With her sister gone and her eyesight failing -- prohibiting the 160-mile drive to meetings -- Horton decided she would like to join Post 802, Hammond's largest.\nThat's when the roadblocks went up.\nIn February, Horton submitted her paperwork. It was the second time she had applied to Post 802, having been turned down for a transfer in 1993.\nThe issue of her membership transfer went to the floor of Post 802 for a vote in April. The vote was against Horton, 14 to 9.\nNow, another year must pass before Horton can reapply. In the meantime, Horton still has her membership at American Legion Post 126 in Hammond, which boasts 10 women on its 135-member roster.\nEven though the Veterans of Foreign Wars began admitting women in 1978, Horton said it is hard for some veterans to grasp that she is a woman and a veteran.\n"I wasn't in combat, but when you're in the back of a truck and young Communists are throwing bricks at you, they hurt. It isn't what you did, it's the fact you served your country," Horton said.\nHer own granddaughter, Erika Horton, is serving in Iraq aboard the USS Nassau.\nSome 50,000 women served their country during the Korean War, while a total of 1.4 million women nationwide are recognized as veterans, said Marilla Cushman, spokeswoman for the Women in Military Service For America Memorial in Washington, D.C.\nNorton is not giving up. She plans to send off a complaint of discrimination to the American Civil Liberties Union.\n"If I have to get an attorney, I will," she said. "I don't want anything for myself. What I want to be assured of is that any women coming behind me, and (wanting) to be a member, can't be turned down because of their sex."\n"I have to do that for my granddaughter"