The Air Force Enlisted Village (AFEV) celebrated Military Spouse Appreciation Day (May 11, 2018) with a dedication ceremony for a National Rosie the Riveter Memorial Rose Garden at Bob Hope Village. The heart shaped garden features four pots of Rosie the Riveter Floribunda roses named to honor the hard-working women that kept American factories and shipyards productive during World War II. The blooms combine old-fashioned flower form with beautiful, vibrant coloring of orange-gold suffused with pink and accented by a golden reverse. The garden is a living tribute to military spouses and is sponsored by the Hurlburt Spouses’ Club.
Hang Owen, president of the Hurlburt Spouses’ Club said that military spouses have the same “we can do it” spirit of Rosie the Riveters. “Military spouses are silent heroes,” Owen said. “When our military members go off to deployment, military spouses take care of the kids, the home, the PCS moves, and more. It’s because of Rosie the Riveters that we can do it.”
Joyce West, real life Rosie the Riveter and Bob Hope Village resident told the audience how she went to work during the WWII era as a pin setter at a bowling alley in her home town in Geauga County, Ohio. She said it was normally a man’s job, but because they were all at war, she took the job. West explained that many women who were “Rosie the Riveters” went on to become some of the first females to join the military. She herself joined the USAF where she met her husband.
“Because airmen had the vision to start an organization which would provide a home and community for widows of retired enlisted Air Force personnel, every day is Military Spouse Appreciation Day at AFEV,” Scott Delveau, AFEV Director of Development said.
The garden will be part of a nation-wide network of gardens and will be listed on the Spirit of 45’s registry of National Rosie the Riveter Memorial Rose Gardens at www.spiritof45.org.
