A Veteran’s View: Joan McAdams

Since 2004, libraries across the world have organized events about freedom and issues that matter to their communities during the month of September. This grassroots project favors free over fee, public over private, and voices over silence.   Throughout the week of September 21, the blogs of the Davenport Public Library will be featuring posts relating to freedom and democracy, as well as hosting displays about these topics.  For more information about the September Project, visit www.theseptemberproject.org.

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  Joan McAdams not only experienced first-hand the
  continual bombing of England in WWII, she  joined
  the Royal Air Force in order to do something about it.

American FlagWhile serving, she met and married an American soldier, and dealt with the difficulties of a military relationship and, later, with being an “English war bride.” 

After her children were grown, she worked for over 20 years to provide another kind of freedom—at the Rock Island Public Library.

A veteran, a foreign bride, a mother, and a librarian—if that isn’t the definition of “freedom fighter,” it should be!

Here are highlights from her story, as told to Oral History interviewers at the Davenport Public Library:

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2 Responses to A Veteran’s View: Joan McAdams

  1. jean Rolfe says:

    It’s a shame you haven’t used the real British flag.
    http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/geography/unionjack7.html

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