OAN’s Taylor Tinsley
3:07 PM – Wednesday, February 14, 2024
A non-profit organization aimed at boosting morale for veterans produces WWII style pin-up calendars featuring female veterans.
It’s National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans Week. The week of February 12th-18th pays tribute and expresses appreciation to our veterans for their service and sacrifice, encouraging people to visit and volunteer for Veterans cared for at VA facilities.
Pin-ups For Vets is a non-profit organization that has visited with over 17,000 veterans at VA hospitals, military hospitals, and veterans homes across the country.
They deliver WWII style pin-up calendars as gifts of appreciation and to boost morale, featuring 13 female veterans as the models.
The organization’s founder, Gina Elise, said her grandfather served during WWII and led to the inspiration behind the cause.
“During WWII they used to paint beautiful women on the sides of aircraft to sort of boost the morale of the troops and remind them what they were fighting for, it was called nose art,” Elise said. “So I thought I would kind of take that concept of nose art, bring it into today, and create a fundraising pin-up calendar that we can use to support our veterans and troops.”
Elise said they hold casting calls for thousands of applicants across the country who want to be featured in the calendar, but with just 12 months in the year plus a cover shot there aren’t many spots available.
She said a lot of the women who do get featured end up becoming volunteers, in what they call “service after service,” adding it gives them a sense of purpose again after leaving the military as well as serves as a way to embrace their femininity.
“There is nothing that says I can’t be a hard-charging Marine, and a lipstick-wearing pin-up, so I choose to be both,” one of their ambassadors, who is a Marine, has said.
The women in the calendar also dress from head-to-toe in their 1940s get-up while visiting veterans in the hospital.
Aside from it being a real blast from the past for patients, Elise said they’re also shocked to learn that the women are veterans themselves.
“I’ll introduce the girls and the patients will say ‘wait she’s a marine?’ and it’s that instant veteran to veteran bond,’ Elise shared. “I always say that sometimes the smallest gesture can make the biggest impact.”
Elise also said that some of the patients become emotional upon their visits, citing a lack of recognition.
The non-profit also uses funds allocated through the calendar to donate rehab equipment to veteran hospitals nationwide.
One of the best ways to support the cause is by purchasing a calendar, which can be found at https://www.pinupsforvets.com/