ZEBULON — Pike County American Legion Post 197 held a Veterans Day ceremony Wednesday morning at Life Springs Methodist Church.

While honoring all those who have served the nation, a special tribute was paid to women of the armed forces.

“During the American Revolution, women served on the battlefields as nurses, laundresses and saboteurs,” said Post 197 Commander Don Bailey. “In 2008, for the first time in American history, a woman was promoted to the rank of four-star general.”

To honor women’s service, Georgia American Legion Junior Vice Commander Carmen Streit-Smith was the ceremony’s guest speaker.

“I always wanted to serve. My father is a Korean veteran and he kept saying, ‘No daughter of mine is going to serve in the military. It’s too rough,’” she said, but serve she did.

Streit-Smith recalled the day she enlisted in the Army and her husband’s reaction.

“I went home and I told him I had signed up,” she said. “He said, ‘I only told you to go take the test.’ I told him I’m sorry, but I belong to the government now.”

She said she soon found herself stationed at Fort Gordon, training in communications.

“I soon went to encryption school and became military intelligence,” she said. “Military intelligence is very different — it’s twenty-four-seven.”

In that capacity, Streit-Smith said she remains proud of having been directly involved in the work to free American hostages being held in the Middle East in 1979.

She went on to say that while many men who are veterans were drafted into service, that is not the case for women.

“Right now, we have a lot of women who are fighting, and all women who have ever served were and are volunteers,” she said. “We need to keep giving help, support and honor to all those who serve.”

Though no longer active duty, Streit-Smith laughed as she told those gathered that she did visit with a recruiter who explained she is too old to serve now.

Although she may be considered “too old,” others close to her heart are not as she said her son and grandson are currently serving in Iraq.

Following Streit-Smith’s speech, Bailey formally dedicated a portion of Georgia Highway 362 in Williamson as Pike County Veterans’ Highway.

Bailey also shared one of his own personal experiences when he said, “I remember the first time I came home from the Gulf War. I did kiss the ground, but you know what? It wasn’t just dirt. It tasted really good. A lot of people have died on foreign soil, but it wasn’t just dirt, either. They died on the blood, sweat and tears of others who have served our country.”