I am so honored and excited. I just received an email that the Illinois Humanities Council has selected me to join its Road Scholars roster for 2014-15 with my presentation entitled “The Journey to Mollie’s War: WACS and World War II.”
For over a decade, the IHC Road Scholars Speakers Bureau has been sending Illinois’ finest writers, poets, historians, anthropologists, and living history actors to present to audiences across Illinois. For a small fee, non-profit organizations are able to bring a humanities speaker to their community and share the Road Scholars experience with local audiences, friends and family. IHC takes care of the rest.

As we all celebrate the Fourth of July, I just wanted to share the letter that Mollie wrote home on the first Fourth of July that she spent in the Army in 1944.   She was stationed “somewhere in England.”

Somewhere in England
4 July 1944
Dear Beck:
Just dropping you a few lines to let you know I am okay and feeling fine and hope everyone at home is too.  I suppose you all went out today and enjoyed some park or lake. I certainly hope Mom and Pop didn’t stay home.
We WACs were give a very nice lunch today at our Mess Hall.  It was all so unexpected—I mean the fanfare.  When we walked into our Mess Hall it was decorated with flags of England, France and the good ole USA.  We even had music from an old broken victrola.  Mom would be interested in this—we had fried chicken, peas, potatoes, lettuce, coffee, which I have now grown used to and some very nice cake—we also had the inevitable spinach.
Love,
Mollie