A young woman dubbed "The New Betty Grable" is asking for the public's support in her efforts to brighten the days of those who serve.
(WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana) - To honor her grandfather, Louis, who served in the United States Army for four years during World War II and to help with the effort in aiding military service veterans in hospitals and active duty soldiers overseas, a stunningly attractive brunette from Southern California, Gina Elise, has created a website PinUpsforVets.com with a 1940's theme in music and content.
Gina's story begins with her grandfather who served in the Army during World War II. After settling down to raise a family, he took his daughters out to the local cemetery each Memorial Day to honor deceased veterans and family members.
Gina grew up to be a beautiful and patriotic young woman. She is not only beautiful, but smart, graduating fourth in her high school class and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at Los Angeles.
She read about and learned of the problems of wounded Veterans in Veterans Hospitals throughout the United States, with underfunding, lack of visitation and difficulties of rehabilitation.
So, combining her love of patriotism and music of the 1940's "greatest generation,"of which her grandfather was a part, she created a website for people to enjoy and to make them aware of Veterans health care issues, while raising funds for American Legion Post 360 of Lake Arrowhead, California to donate to programs supporting hospitalized veterans.
In 2007, Gina was voted the "Outstanding Young Californian" by the California Jaycees Foundation and the California Jr. Chamber of Commerce for creating this unique project to support hospitalized Veterans and deployed troops.
Gina got her academic start with the help of a college scholarship from American Legion Post 360, that co-sponsors her 2008 "Pin-Ups For Vets" calendar, that proudly displays the American Legion emblem on its cover, with Gina throwing a snappy salute in a 1940's style sailor suit.
Gina has attracted sponsors from various places in the United States, the most well-known of which is Wal-Mart Foundation, and her calendar is dedicated, in her words, to "all of our ill and injured Veterans who are hospitalized in facilities all over the U.S. and overseas, to their hard-working caregivers, to our retired Veterans who have honorably served our country, to the military families who have made so many sacrifices, and finally to the courageous troops who are currently serving in the United States military."
The "Pin-ups for Vets" website shows the very positive response to Gina's calendar from the troops overseas, as well as from the hospitalized Veterans, as they pose with the calendar opened to their favorite picture.
Gina Elise has received four American flags from military units posted in Iraq. Gina Elise recently visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and Bethesda Naval Hospital to cheer up our recovering Wounded Warriors and to deliver donated calendars and posters inscribed with personal get-well messages of support from the donors.
Gina Elise is asking for the public's support. She is making many more visits to Veterans and military hospitals this year, and she invites the public to visit her website PinUpsForVets.com to order a calendar or a poster for themselves, for a hospitalized Veteran, or for a deployed soldier. Once again, the calendar project's proceeds will be delivered by American Legion Post 360 to a program to support hospitalized Veterans.
Gina Elise can be contacted at PinUpsForVets@aol.com
The project's "Pin-Up In Chief" Gina Elise, also the the creator and pin-up model in this nostalgic recreation of the 1940's pin-up girl calendar, is on her way to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital and is looking for the public's support.
"Stars and Stripes" newspaper, that goes to all active duty military, recently covered Gina Elise's project for the second time. The deployed troops have enthusiastically supported the calendar project.
Gina Elise has had FOUR American flags flown in her honor over military bases in Iraq, and she has received hundreds of letters of appreciation from the troops.
She has also received letters of thanks from military and Veterans Hospitals for her visits and gifts to the ill and injured Veterans.
The California Jaycees Foundation and California Jr. Chamber of Commerce selected her as "2007 Outstanding Young Californian" for creating this project to support America's Veterans and active duty troops.
Dubbed "the calendar angel" by the deployed troops and the internet's bloggers, Elise graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA in 2004. She is the granddaugher of a Veteran who served 4 years in the Army during World War II.
She wanted to do something positive to honor her grandfather's military service to the U.S. and to also focus attention on Veterans' healthcare issues.
Gina Elise begins the 2nd year of a unique fundraiser project she created to raise money for hospitalized Veterans. She is sponsored by American Legion Post 360, Lake Arrowhead, CA, and raises funds for the Post to donate to America's hospitalized Veterans.
Her project has been embraced by hundreds of hospitalized Vets, and the project has boosted the morale of the deployed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
People around the world have purchased her "Pin-Ups For Vets" calendars to support America's ill and injured Vets and deployed troops.
Gina Elise has visited and delivered her nostalgic "Pin-Ups For Vets" calendars to hundreds of Veterans at VA and military hospitals over this past year.
Thousands of dollars have been raised to help hospitalized Veterans and under-funded healthcare programs.
She has been dubbed "the new Betty Grable", and she appears as the blonde, brunette, redhead, and raven-haired model in the pin-up calendar, inspired by the 1940's pin-up girls of World War II.
An Army Major in Iraq from the 10th Mountain Division recently painted a mural of Gina Elise's pin-up photo on a wall in the military base to help boost morale for the soldiers in his unit.
---------------------------------------------------------Special thanks to Frederick S. Meessen, American Legion Post 492 for this article
Pin-Up Girl Works for Ill and Wounded VeteransSalem-News.com