In honor of Memorial Day, the Flagg Township Museum in Rochelle invites the public to attend “The Story of WASP” at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 24.

Presented by local history enthusiast and researcher Mary Rose Fillip, the program explores the history of the little-known organization. Through research and archival discoveries, Fillip has worked to uncover and share the story of the Women’s Ambulance Safety Patrol.

WASP was a groundbreaking women’s civil defense and emergency preparedness organization founded in Rockford on April 3, 1940. Created months before the United States entered World War II, the organization reflected growing concerns about national defense and the role women could play in emergency response during wartime. The Rockford unit was considered the first women’s ambulance program in the United States.

For many years, the history of the Women’s Ambulance Safety Patrol remained largely forgotten.

Much of what is now known has been uncovered through local archives, scrapbooks, newspapers and museum research in Rockford and northern Illinois.

Historians today recognize the organization as an early example of women stepping into leadership, technical training and public safety roles during a period when such opportunities were often limited.