It’s been a wonderful and productive Women’s History month for “Mollie’s War” as we’ve traveled across Illinois from Johnsburg to Belleville to Batavia and lots of places in between telling Mollie’s story and the history of the women who served in the Army during WWII.   I’ve met lots of interesting people and so many people who have a connection to WWII.   One woman told about her mother who graduated high school during WWII and was given a temporary teaching certificate so that she could teach in her small Illinois town where they needed teachers.  Another woman told me about her career as a WAC and how it turned into a career in civilian life.   A man talked about being a history teacher and not knowing very much about the WACs and what they did in the military.  Some female college students who were returning Veterans were just fascinated by Mollie’s story.  Several people commented that they did not know that WACs went overseas.  For me it was a real treat to speak to an Army Reserve unit in Forest Park.   Meeting these Soldiers and interacting with them about my mother’s story made me so appreciate all the sacrifices that my mother and all of these Soldiers make every day.

I had a wonderful time presenting “Mollie’s War” to Autumn Green at Wright Campus a few days ago.   All of the WWII Veterans in attendance told me how much they enjoyed it.   One of the women who had been a WAAC/WAC said how relevant it was for her and brought back so many memories.   She was someone whose skills learned in the military helped her with a career in data processing… and she became the head of data progressing for a large company in Oregon.   (Data processing—that was a long time ago!)   She bought a copy of the book for her daughter.