New Exhibit Highlights Michigan Women's Military Service During World War Two

A traveling World War Two exhibit is schedule for the spring at the North Berrien Historical Museum. “A Few Good Women: Women in the Military During the Second World War” is a traveling exhibit from the Michigan Women’s Historical Center in Lansing and will be on view at the North Berrien Historical Museum from April 1 – May 27, 2011.

The traveling exhibit highlights the involvement of Michigan women in the military during the Second World War including the Army and Navy Nurses Corps, Coast Guard SPARS, Marine Corps, Navy WAVES, WACs (Women Army Corps) and WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilots). Several Michigan women who have earned a place in the Michigan’s Women’s Hall of Fame for their service in the war are specifically covered.


Michiganders can be proud of female veterans including Nancy Harkness Love (1914-1976), a native of Houghton, Michigan, who helped found and was director of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS) in 1942. Love hand-selected the country’s top twenty-eight female pilots to serve in the WAFS ferrying planes from factories to bases across the country.


First Lieutenant Aleda Lutz (1915-1944), of Saginaw, Michigan, is one of the most celebrated women war heroes in American history. Lutz volunteered with the 802nd Medical Air Evacuation Squadron where she flew 196 missions evacuating over 3500 men, logging the most flight hours of any nurse. Lutz was killed in 1944 when her plane crashed in Italy, making her the first American military women to die in a combat zone during the war. With the exception of Civil War Era Doctor Mary Walker, Lutz is the highest decorated woman in the history of the United States of America.

The exhibit will also feature Second World War artifacts from the collection of the North Berrien Historical Museum and other local collections. For additional information please contact the museum at 269-468-3330.