posted by Dan Boniface written by: Dave Delozier
BROOMFIELD – The walls of the Broomfield Veterans Memorial Museum tell a story of sacrifice. Created in 2002, the museum is filled with photos and stories of area veterans. While the museum has grown both in size and popularity in the community, there was one thing missing.
Most of the photos and stories were of men who served their country. That has now changed.
Working in conjunction with the Women Marines Association, the museum now has an exhibit that honors women’s roles in the U.S. Marine Corps
. The Women Marines Association, which was founded in Colorado 50 years ago, has provided the museum with items on display in the exhibit.
“This is one of the few pristine museums in the country,” Cpt. Nancy Wilt, a retired Marine and the Women Marine Associations National Historian, said. “To bring a woman’s aspect into this is something that they needed and we knew that we could do it with great honor.”
The Women in the U.S. Marine Corps exhibit features photos of women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. They serve as a reminder of how far women have come.
“I have watched women change and you know you raise that bar a bit and somebody is ready to jump over it and women have done that,” Col. Sara Phoenix, an officer in U.S. Marine Reserve, said.
Phoenix entered the Marine Corps in 1977 as a private. She remembers how different it was back then.
“When I first came in they still had hair and makeup classes and tea parties, so you knew how to hold a cup at a social function,” Phoenix said.
Now women receive training that parallels their male counterparts. Read more