Panthers to Honor Women of WWII

SUNRISE, Fla. -After the U.S. entered World War II, nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform, both at home and abroad, volunteering for the newly formed Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, the Navy Women's Reserve, the Marine Corps Women's Reserve, the Coast Guard Women's Reserve, the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the Army Nurses Corps, and the Navy Nurse Corps.
On Saturday, the Florida Panthers will honor these heroines, as seven former WWII servicewomen are celebrated during the team's matchup against the visiting Colorado Avalanche at BB&T Center.

"It was a long process," Panthers Director of Community Relations John Colombo said of being able to get all of these amazing women in one place. "We've been working on this for about eight months. It was actually a little bit of a challenge. We actually had a prior hero, Harvey Middleman, who has since joined our staff as a Panthers ambassador, and he came in and concocted this idea for us. We loved it, so we worked with him and this other command in Miami to make it a reality."
In May of 1942, Congress instituted the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, later upgraded to the Women's Army Corps, which had full military status. Its members, known as WACs, worked in more than 200 non-combatant jobs stateside and in every theater of the war. By 1945, there were more than 100,000 WACs and 6,000 female officers.
In the Navy, members of Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, known as WAVES, were awarded the same status as naval reservists and provided immense support at home in the U.S. In the Air Force, Women's Airforce Service Pilots, known as WASPs, became the first women to fly American military aircraft. These women already had obtained pilots licenses prior to the war and were asked to ferry planes from factories to bases, transport cargo and participate in simulations.
In 2010, these WASPs were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their service.
Often working on or near the front lines, nearly sixty thousand American nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps during the war, many of them risking their lives on a daily basis. For these wartime nurses, overcrowded hospitals and less-than-sanitary conditions were often the norm. With limited supplies and immense demands, they worked with little or no rest while tending to wounded soldiers.
"We always honor servicemen and sometimes people think that soldiers are the only heroes," Colombo said. "But these women also sacrificed a lot to be over there. They were on the frontlines. They were protecting the troops and making sure they got home safe to their families. It's a widely forgotten thought process, so it's really special that we can give them their own night and honor them."
At home, women also performed many non-military services in organizations such as the American Red Cross and the United Service Organizations (USO). Throughout the war, approximately nineteen million American women joined the labor force and, between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent.
These women not only helped win the war, but also shaped future generations.
To nominate a Hero, please visit
FloridaPanthers.com/heroes
.
Information provided by the National WWII Museum