WATERLOO - When Linda Robinson attends events that honor U.S. veterans, people who don't know her assume she's in attendance for her husband.

Robinson served with the Army Nurse Corps for four years of active duty from 1971 through 1975 and for 11 years of reserve duty after that. Robinson's husband never served in the military.

The same assumption follows Robinson into other areas of life. At a clinic, she checked "yes" that she was a veteran on her admission form. A well-intentioned nurse attempted to correct her.

"She said, ‘you checked that you're a veteran,'" Robinson said. "I said, ‘that's because I am.'"

On Wednesday, Robinson and other female veterans were given a special tribute for this year's Veterans Day observances.

No such assumptions as the ones Robinson encounters were made about the dozens of women present in a standing-room only crowd at Veterans Memorial Hall at 655 Cedar St.

Marcia Courbat, a World War II veteran of the Womens Army Corps from 1944 through 1946, led the event.

"It's time that they came out to be recognized," Courbat said of her fellow veterans. Some of the more recent veterans thanked Courbat for blazing a way for other women who followed in her footsteps. Courbat said she heard similar sentiments when she and six other members of the WAC Iowa Chapter 98 attended the dedication of the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in October 1997.

"When I went in, there was 45 different jobs women could apply for," Courbat said. "Now we can apply for every job."

Shayla Schellhorn, a junior at Waterloo East High School, attended the event. Schellhorn, a ROTC cadet at East High, wore her uniform.

"They're great role models," Schellhorn said of the veterans at the Wednesday event. "They're someone to look up to. It's motivating."

One of the role-model veterans in attendance was her own mother, Tina Schellhorn, who served with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1989 through 1993 including service in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

As opportunities for women to serve in the armed forces expand, the ranks of female veterans will grow as well. Marsha Tovar, a veteran of the WACs, said the recognition was "long overdue."

Every soldier on the front line during Vietnam had 10 people in the military supporting them, Tovar said. She worked in medical records and kept track of essential information including records that ensured dependants back home in the U.S. were taken care of.

"I took that worry away from them," Tovar said.