Women in WWII

Virginia Wright-Peterson reads from her book, "A Women's War, Too" at the Cloquet Public Library on Veterans Day. Wright-Peterson shared stories of the many women from Minnesota who played a role in World War II, from Mayo Clinic biophysicist Julia Herrick who was loaned to the war department for radar research, to Cloquet native Gertrude Esteros, a nurse in New Guinea during the war and in charge of creating recreation programs there. Others were spies, entertainers, pilots, factory workers and writers or photographers. About two dozen people attended the presentation Monday. "Why did women go to war? For some it was patriotism, for others it was financial," the author said. "For some it was a path to independence." Wright-Peterson's book is published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.