SAN DIEGO -- Many women have honorably served in the United States military since 1778, when reportedly Deborah Samson of Plympton, Mass., disguised herself as a young man and enlisted herself in the Army. She served for three years before she was discovered to be a female and was discharged from the service.
This topic is just one of many subjects the female veterans of World War II discussed March 19 at the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center for the opening of the women’s military exhibit. They took time out of their weekend to help better educate people on the many struggles military women have overcome to get where they are today.
The female veterans that spoke represented the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. All of the females brought different stories to the table from WWII, highlighting different aspects of female military history.
The Veterans Museum and Memorial Center is the former chapel of the Naval Hospital of Inspiration Point in San Diego’s Balboa Park. The chapel was built during WWII and now bears one-of-a-kind artifacts.
The artifacts currently on display in the women’s veteran exhibit vary from female Marine scrapbooks dating back to WWII, to a female Navy officer’s cover. The exhibit also displays a few of the female dress uniforms from each service, and the inventory is expected to expand.
Despite the rich presence of female history currently present in the exhibit, the museum hopes to gather more artifacts to help better educate the public and those who come to visit. Jim Loh, the assistant curator and a San Diego native, explains how they are hoping the opening of the exhibit will have caught peoples eyes.
“The World War II veterans speaking today brought up that they didn’t realize the value of their old military items, they are happy to help contribute to developing the greater story, women in the military,” said Loh.
These females among other veterans are working with the exhibit to help give a women’s perspective of what was important to them when they served years ago. The Veterans Museum and Memorial is also working with the San Diego Women’s Museum, to help allow rotation of the artifacts on display like the traditional museums.
“The traditional museums rotate their artifacts on a regular basis helping better educate the public on history by allowing them to see more from the past. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish here,” said Loh.
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Command Museum director, Barbara McCurtis, was also among the crowd at the exhibit opening showing her support of the military community.
It’s good that it gives hope to young females to say ‘I can do that,’ but they won’t get that inspiration if they only see men in history accomplishing great things, said Barbara.