© Provided by Washington Examiner A memorial honoring Vanessa Guillen, the soldier who went missing in April 2020 and was later found dead, was unveiled at Fort Hood on Monday ahead of the one-year anniversary of her disappearance.
Those entering the 3rd Cavalry Regiment area at the Texas military installation, where Guillen served before she disappeared on April 22, 2020, will pass through the Vanessa Guillen Gate that bears her name and picture.
"In coordination with the family, who agreed to allow us to do this, we are going to dedicate a gate that has her name on it - that has her picture - and you can come learn just a little about Vanessa," Lt. Gen. Pat White, commanding general of III Corps and Fort Hood, said during the ceremony on Monday.
NATIONAL WORLD WAR I MEMORIAL UNVEILED IN DC
Before she went missing, Guillen told her family that she had been sexually harassed on base but that she had not reported it for fear of repercussions. Guillen's mother, Gloria, said on Sept. 10 that Aaron Robinson, a fellow soldier who investigators suspect killed Vanessa, harassed her daughter. Robinson killed himself before investigators could take him into custody.
After the dedication ceremony, Guillen's sister, Mayra, called the memorial an "honor for Vanessa" and "a step in the right direction."
"For me, I try to see things in a positive way," Mayra Guillen said. "This gate will [remind] all those soldiers who go in day and night that what happened shouldn't happen ever again."
The issue of sexual harassment and violence in the military did not go unmentioned at the ceremony.
"A lot of people said positive and negative stuff about the gate. I myself have said it as well," said Lupe Guillen, Vanessa's sister. "It had to take my sister's life for us to realize the bigger issue - sexual violence is not an 'issue;' it's an epidemic inside the armed forces."
After Guillen's death, the Army formed the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee, which released a report on Dec. 8, revealing that a "toxic culture was allowed to harden and set" at Fort Hood.
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Fourteen Army leaders at Fort Hood were subsequently fired or suspended for leadership failures.
Tags: News, Army, Military, Sexual Harassment, troops, Fort Hood, Texas
Original Author: Jeremy Beaman
Original Location: Memorial honoring slain soldier Vanessa Guillen unveiled at Fort Hood