Alabama Veterans Museum To Celebrate “Women And The Military” Saturday

The Alabama Veterans Museum & Archives in Athens will celebrate “Women & the Military” Saturday, March 31, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.. The event, held each year on the last Saturday of March, is designed to educate and enlighten the public on the roles played by women, both in the military and in support from the home front.

All women veterans, past and present, from all branches of the military are invited to bring memorabilia, souvenirs and artifacts, and talk to the visitors in a one-on-one setting about their military experiences. In the past veterans from WWII, the Cold War era, Vietnam and Iraq have participated. There have been doctors, drivers, MPs, and couriers, all with different jobs and stories to tell. There have been fathers and mothers present to talk about their military daughters.

Re-enactors have also portrayed Revolutionary and Civil War women in the past and discussed their roles during those harsh times.

Women who have filled the roles left open by the men in civilian jobs and supported our troops have also been recognized. In the past there was a lady who, as a teenager in the early 1940s, made a scrapbook and wrote letters to all the boys from Limestone County, Alabama during WWII. There was also a lady who worked for the company that made the powdered eggs for the military and one whose husband was in Iraq and her son was in Kuwait at the same time.

This year a large number of veterans and enlisted women are scheduled to attend from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. A group of new Marine recruits will be coming from Redstone. Women who, as civilians, worked at Oak Ridge, TN, and Redstone Arsenal, AL, building bombs and other weaponry have also been invited.

A lady who was a little girl in Germany when the U.S. Army was there in WWII, and a re-enactor who will talk about the support the women gave the military during WWII will be present.

Everyone is invited to participate in this special day and bring their children and grandchildren, young and old, to talk to these extraordinary women. Conversations will be very informal in a one-on-one setting, and the women will be glad to answer any questions.

The Alabama Veterans Museum & Archives is located at 100 W. Pryor Street in Athens, AL, in the old L & N Freight Depot.

For more information, please telephone 256/771-7578.