By En Route Staff
Women veterans will play a vital role in two upcoming conferences — attended by long-time NJVVMF volunteers and moderated by Museum Curator Keri A. Giannotti — coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
Giannotti will be on hand for The New Jersey Council for the Social Studies Conference on October 21 at the Rutgers New Brunswick Campus, and will moderate a panel at The New Jersey Historical Commission Annual Conference on November 1 at Douglass Residential College Rutgers University.
“People often don’t realize that women served in the Vietnam War. While some may think of women serving as nurses, women played a pivotal role in the War, not only as nurses, but by staffing and operating craft shops, libraries, service clubs and helping create entertainment programs for the troops,” Giannotti said.
The theme for the October conference is “One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Educators,” a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the moon landing as well as the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Giannotti will moderate a panel featuring long-term NJVVMF volunteers and veterans, Carl and Ruth Ann Burns.
During the Vietnam War, Carl was a helicopter pilot, while Ruth Ann traveled to Vietnam to cover the war from a woman’s perspective — as well from Carl’s perspective. The husband-wife team will take part in the “Vietnam War at Home and In Country” panel.
Click here to read more about Carl and Ruth Ann’s incredible journey. To register for the conference, click here.
The second conference being hosted by Douglass Residential College will have the theme “New Jersey Women Make History,” and it will celebrate the contributions women made in the Vietnam War. Giannotti will moderate a panel featuring Ruth Ann Burns and Ann Kelsey, who will discuss the roles they played as women in the Vietnam War.
Kelsey has been a long-time friend and volunteer of the NJVVMF and will share her story of being in the Special Services as a Librarian in country. Click here to register for the November 1 conference.
These volunteers participating in the upcoming conferences will give attendees an inside look as they share their incredible wisdom.
“Guides are the heart and soul of the NJVVMF. The veteran volunteers make the NJVVMF come alive — a living museum. Children and adults find the personal stories of the tour guides simply fascinating,” Giannotti said.
