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March has provided me an exciting opportunity to highlight and celebrate women who were instrumental during WWII the era. As this month ends I want to say, HAT’S OFF to all women-past and present. Women’s work-your work-our work is vital to our county every day. Thank you, women everywhere!

During the war years, people from all walks of life were motivated to do something to help their country. For Women’s History Month, I was especially excited to discover several women trailblazers who had made significant contributions to the war effort. Yet I was surprised that I had not heard their stories nor knew about their accomplishments. They were hidden or lost in a history that primarily focused on battles and the front lines. Sadly, there was a limited focus on the back stories where women were also diligently working in the trenches. At first, some of these women were […]

According to Chase’s Calendar of Events, the Tuskegee Airmen unit was activated on March 22nd in 1941. Earlier in January the War Department had announced the creation of the 99th Pursuit Squadron which would become America’s first Africa-American aviator unit. These men received their training in Alabama at Tuskegee Institute, the first institution of higher learning for Blacks and the nearby U.S. Army airfield. In March, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the site and asked to take a ride with one of the Tuskegee pilots. Charles A. Anderson, the Chief Civilian Flight Instructor who would later become known as “The […]

One of my favorite new books is, The Girls of Atomic City, The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. I had heard about it from several people and finally got a copy when I was visiting the Bradbury Science Museum at Los Alamos, New Mexico. While this book was purchased far from its East Tennessee setting, its main characters played a prominent role in the work and activities of the Los Alamos National Lab even though they were not aware of their connection. Although my hometown is only thirty miles from the […]