MOUNT POCONO, Pa. — Driving down Sterling Road in Mount Pocono, it's hard to miss mannequins in uniforms of different service branches outside the Women Veterans Museum.
It's a display the museum creator says celebrates the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act in 1948 while also highlighting the accomplishments of women who served.
"We're raising our children, but we're on the battlefield. We're in combat. We're in planes. We're flying jets. All so much more that we're doing that. On our wall, we have the fly girls who built those planes, so much more that people are not aware that women have contributed to the armed forces," said Claudette Williams, the museum creator and retired U.S. Army sergeant major.
Williams says the act's signing allowed women to serve as regular members of the armed forces, despite women serving long before the bill was ever signed.
"Way back in the 17th century, if you go all the way back, you can see the amount of women who disguised themselves as men to serve," Williams said. "So, 75 years of it, we are coming out big and strong and saying, 'Hey, listen, look back in history and see what we have done.'"
Williams says she brought the mannequins outside for people to see and fully recognize the contributions women have made in service.
"My husband is going to the dentist, and I saw all the mannequins outside, and it brought my attention, and I said while I'm waiting, I'll go over and check it out, and I'm amazed at this place. It's beautiful. It really is beautiful, and it's sad that it's not recognized," said Mary Ellen Wood with the Coolbaugh Township Historical Association.
"Taking these mannequins with different branches of service outside is now coming outside, you know, also a public display of saying that we are no longer invisible, and we're pushing those messages, and I want you to learn about all these great women who have served and contributed to this great county," Williams said.
The Women Veterans Museum in Mount Pocono is open from Thursday to Sunday. Admission is free, but donations are accepted to help keep the place running.