Brookline Veteran Receives Prestigious Service Award

BROOKLINE, MA — A resident has been named as the recipient of a statewide award that honors female veterans.

Ashley Booker was presented with the 2025 Deborah Sampson Award at the Statehouse in Boston this week. Deborah Sampson lived in the era of Colonial America and disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War. The Massachusetts native was the first woman to serve in the armed forces.

Booker enlisted in the Navy right after graduating high school. She would go on to serve aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Her service to the military did not end with her honorable discharge, as Booker now works as a Program Manager for Veterans Upward Bound, a federally funded program designed to help veterans prepare for postsecondary education.

Booker said the award has greatly humbled her.

“I stand here with a heart full of gratitude and in solidarity with everyone who has ever served, every veteran finding their voice, and every student searching for theirs,” Booker said. We don’t do this work for recognition, we do it because we remember what it felt like to be unseen, unheard, and uncertain."