An exhibit on women in the military will open at the North Berrien Historical Museum on Friday, April 1 with a reception from 5:30-7:30pm. State Senator John Proos will give opening remarks at 6pm. “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 from April 1 – May 27, 2011.
This temporary 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 nationwide. First Lieutenant Aleda Lutz (1915-1994), of Saginaw, Michigan, 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 woman to die in a combat zone during the war.
Artifacts donated by North Berrien residents are included to tell the story of local women during the war. Among these is Frances Bridgman’s silk wedding dress, which was made from a parachute panel recovered by her future husband from a downed Japanese plane in the Philippines. Lillian Pritchard and Jackie Phillippi Nurses’ uniforms are also on display from the permanent collection. Additional uniforms and images are loaned from Berrien, Van Buren and Elkhart County museums.
Special events at the museum are planned throughout the exhibit. An all-ages World War Two themed Spring Break program is planned for Wednesday, April 6 from 1-3pm. A panel of North Berrien female veterans including Vel Ripsco and Janet Allkins is scheduled for Tuesday, April 19 at 7pm. Documentaries will be screened at the museum on the afternoon of Saturday, April 16 and a book discussion will be held at the Coloma Public Library on Thursday, March 12. Finally a 1940s Show & Tell discussion on Tuesday, May 17 invites all local residents to share objects, photographs, and stories relating to life in North Berrien during the war period.
Admission is free to the exhibit and all programs. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am to 4pm. For additional information please contact the museum at 269-468-3330 or visit http://www.northberrienhistory.org/.
This temporary 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 nationwide. First Lieutenant Aleda Lutz (1915-1994), of Saginaw, Michigan, 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 woman to die in a combat zone during the war.
Artifacts donated by North Berrien residents are included to tell the story of local women during the war. Among these is Frances Bridgman’s silk wedding dress, which was made from a parachute panel recovered by her future husband from a downed Japanese plane in the Philippines. Lillian Pritchard and Jackie Phillippi Nurses’ uniforms are also on display from the permanent collection. Additional uniforms and images are loaned from Berrien, Van Buren and Elkhart County museums.
Special events at the museum are planned throughout the exhibit. An all-ages World War Two themed Spring Break program is planned for Wednesday, April 6 from 1-3pm. A panel of North Berrien female veterans including Vel Ripsco and Janet Allkins is scheduled for Tuesday, April 19 at 7pm. Documentaries will be screened at the museum on the afternoon of Saturday, April 16 and a book discussion will be held at the Coloma Public Library on Thursday, March 12. Finally a 1940s Show & Tell discussion on Tuesday, May 17 invites all local residents to share objects, photographs, and stories relating to life in North Berrien during the war period.
Admission is free to the exhibit and all programs. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am to 4pm. For additional information please contact the museum at 269-468-3330 or visit http://www.northberrienhistory.org/.
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