Posted June 19, 2017 7:24 am by Comments

By Chris Eger

Venus Ramey, the first red-headed Miss Ms. America when she was crowned in 1944, graced bombers as nose art, helped sell war bonds, and once stopped a group of scrap thieves with a snub-nosed .38.
Reuters reports the 92-year-old activist died in her homes state on Sunday.
Ramey campaigning for war bonds at an event in front of the Capitol (Photo: Miss America)
The Ashland, Kentucky native left home during WWII to help with the war effort and wound up as a 19-year-old competitor for Miss America after winning Miss District of Columbia. She went on to tour the country for a year, visiting servicemen and supporting the troops by hawking war bonds during a crucial period in the war when national morale was low due to climbing casualties and the public was souring of the campaign.
She was immortalized at the time on both B-24 and B-17G bombers and her contributions are remembered as part of the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.
According to the Miss America organization, she not only received a special citation from the Treasury Department but “Miss America was seen as a political activist for the first time, as Venus worked with Senator Kaper of Kansas and Congressman Somner

Source: Guns.com

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