History of the WAC

147 thoughts on “History of the WAC”

1. My mother was in the WACs and fought hard to get women into the regular army and to be able to go into combat positions. She was the first woman to go to the advanced armor school in Fort Knox KY, to show the army women could do it. (They forgot to ban women from it, it being a combat class and women not being allowed into combat). I wish she could have stayed alive to see how far women have gotten today.

   1. I’m sorry your other is not here to thank. Appreciate you sharing her story.

   2. I thank her for her service.

   3. If #45 and his lackeys in and out of Congress, misogynists all, would give women the treatment they deserve, such as DIGNITY, RESPECT, LOVE and ADMIRATION, that would be a major victory for women! 2020 is nearing and is yet another chance to stop Congress and the White House from being a boys club and to become the governing body they’re SUPPOSED TO BE.

   4. My sincere thanks to your mom for her service. My mother in-law served as well.

   5. My mother wanted to be in during WWII, and cried bitter tears when D-Day occured, knowing she’d never make the age limit before the war ended. She disowned her brother, (who was I guess her legal guardian after her parents passing), for not signing a form to let her join the WAC’s at a younger age, (18?) women needed to join. So her first and only war was the Korean War. She stayed in the Reserves as long as she could.

   6. Thank you for sharing. I am sorry for your lost.
      Than you for sharing her story. I worked with a former WW2nurse from Pearl Harbor. I cherished knowing her and her stories.

2. My mother decided to join the Navy when her parish priest suggested that women should volunteer.
   She was very proud of her service. She was in Intelligence in D.C.

   1. Was your mother a member of OSS?

3. My sister belonged to the last graduating class of the WACS and her picture was on time magazine while marching with her platoon at Ft. Jackson, SC.
   It would be great to have that picture.

   1. That’s awesome. Have you tried googling Time magazine? That would be a wonderful picture to have. I graduated from basic at Ft Jackson in 1975.

   2. Beth, Have you tried to contact the editor of Time to see if they have historical copies and would send you a scan of the page? Also, check http://www.worldcat.org. (Not sure they have mags.)
      I was in the WACs 1956-1958; I believe they merged us with the men’s Army in 1957. Basic at Ft. McClellan, AL (now closed), the highly toxic base as was shown in the ’80’s in a lawsuit; then training at the now-closed Ft. Benj. Harrison, Indianapolis, IN; then wonderful permanent station as a legal clerk at 1st Army HQ at the old Revolutionary War fort, Ft. Jay, on Governors Island, a 5-minute ferry ride from the southern tip of Manhattan and a stone’s throw from the Statue of Liberty. Wouldn’t have traded the experience for the world. Joined the Army Reserve in 1974 and retired at 20 years. Good luck in your search.

   3. Thank you! 🙂

4. Representative Nourse/Rogers was a descendant of Rebecca Nourse, one of the victims of the Salem Witchcraft hysteria.

5. WAC’s were also nurses. My mother was one in North Africa where she met my Dad after he was wounded in the Battle of Kasserine Pass. She went on to Sicily, Southern Italy etc. (as did he) and ended her European duty in Northern Italy.

   1. I had a dear friend who served as a nurse in No. Africa and later transferred to Sicily for the remainder of her service. Wonder if your mom and my friend ever served together. My friend was trained as an anesthetist while in Italy as their unit did not have one to handle the surgery needs.

   2. Nurses at that time belonged we in the Army Nurse Corps.

6. My Grandmother served in WW2 as a navigator and pilot. My Grandmother’s married name was Kathleen Cowert An older friend of mine named Mary Nelson also served in the Air Corps during that same time. There is precious little information available about those brave patriotic women.

   1. Check out the WASP’s on line. They have a museum in TX and if I recall a listing of all WASP’s and what they flew

7. I was a WAC 1959-1961 and enjoyed everyday I was in. For a country girl, I got to see the East Coast and Japan. I did a lot of growing up while I was in the service.

8. I would like to know more about the nurses at Corigador (sp?).

   1. An excellent telling of that story is the book _We Band of Angels_ by Elizabeth M. Norman. Really excellent story of those very brave women.

   2. My mom was a WAAC 1961-1965, 1967-1970. She heard about a book on the Nurses in the Philippines. It is called To the Angels by Denny Williams. It was a very enlightening and at the same time heartbreaking book.

9. My Grandmother served as a WAC during WW2 in Paris France her service inspired me to join the Navy when I graduated from high school. I am truly grateful to the women who served before me thank you for making it possible for me to be able to serve also.

10. My grandmother was a WAC and toured with Benny Goodman’s band selling war bonds. There was a full size “Pin up” poster of her out front in her uniform, which she could still wear in the 1970’s! I was a WAC for several months, after graduating Ft. Jackson in the summer of 1977. Then we all became “RA” (Regular Army). Good times.

11. I was in Officer Training in 1973 at Ft McClellan AL and was one of the first women to be allowed to wear branch insigna just like the men. I was in the first group of women allowed to attend a branch school ( in my case AG School in Indianapolis) with the men. I went on to be an Asst AG at Ft Knox, KY. It was a wonderful time for me.

12. Why didn’t you feature some of the African American women who served in the WAC?.

    1. You raised my awareness and I rummaged through Google for more information. May I recommend an article — https://www.womensmemorial.org/history-of-black-women — to all for more of the story.

       I offer a salute to Pres. Harry S Truman and to Gen. Ovita Culp Hobby. Thank you for your service

13. My mother, Regina Mooney Wendel, served in the WAC in World War II, stayed as part of the Occupation. I’ve seen her medals. She met my dad, I. C. Wendel in Germany, they married and had me in 1947.

14. My mom was a WAC! She also served as President of the Texas BTW Auxillary in the 1980s.

15. My school bus driver was in that first class as she showed us pictures of that first class and later she was sent to europe and married a pilot and he was killed when his plane was shot down. She kept her pictures as they were not stationed together but only for a few months. She had still not remarried and she never did.

16. My mother graduated from the first WAC Training Center Ft Des Moines IA, Sept 1943 and served with the US Army Transportation Corps in the SW Pacific. She began her duties as Historian in June 1944 as a Private First Class. Her abilities were recognized by the Commanding General (GC Stewart, Brig Gen USA Chief of Transportation) and she became the first WAC officer (2nd Lt) in the SW Pacific to receive her commission directly from the enlisted ranks. She was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement in compiling top secret historical data concerning Transportation Corps activities in the SW Pacific. She obtained information from all transportation installations in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines and compiled “a full and concise report.” She met my father (a US Army Air Corps Staff Sergeant) who snuck into an officer’s only dance in Australia in 1944! They were married in Atlantic City NJ in Sept 1946 and were married until her death in 1993.

    1. Thank you for sharing their story!

    2. I hope you sat her down with a good tape recorder! Get all of this down first in her own voice ASAP. Recordings like that can be just as valuable to historians as an organized written account.

    3. Oops! Meant to put this reply under Denis Crow’s posting!

17. My mother was a WAC who enlisted Feb. 23, 1943, and was sent to England until the end of the war, when she was discharged. She mentioned once that she and several other WACs were given leave to Ireland in May or beginning of June 1944. They were instructed to make a big show of themselves for the benefit of any German spies, all part of trying to keep the possible dates for D-Day secret.

18. My Mom was an Army Nurse…met my Dad while syationed in Germany during WW2. He was in the Army and a patient on her hospital ward. She had to resign so they could marry, he went on with an Army career. Later my brother served in the Air Force as a physician and I served in the Navy as a nurse.

    1. spellcheck: stationed = stationed

    2. Ann, thank you for your service and the service of your family!

19. My mother was a Red Cross nurse, who was more or less, drafted into the regular Army, to serve at 42nd General Hospital in Tokyo. This started weeks after the “atomic bombs were used”, as she says. Many women served as combat nurses throughout the “Pacific Theater.” At the hospital in Tokyo, she and her best friend took direct information from prisoners of war in Japan. Prison camps were located around southern Japan and housed men, soldiers and civilians, from many countries. There was a huge international operation to free prisoners of war and “internees” by the thousands. She actually has some funny and heart warming stories to tell about her friend and her brother. She is 96 and going strong. I am writing a book about her service from March, 1945 to Dec., 1946. Not bad for a 23 year old woman never having set foot outside of Kansas until then.

20. My mother, 2nd Lt. Betty Jane McVey served as a nurse at Luke AB, Arizona in 1942 thru 1944. Married Major Jack Monroe USMC.

21. Met my spouse when she was in the WAC in 1968. She’s very proud of having served, and often times, i think, she regrets getting out.

    OBTW: WAC is both singular and plural, WAC not WACs. Also, women were NOT WACs, as She Who Must Be Obeyed used to remind me: They were first, last and always soldiers, also, woman in in the WAC, a member of the WAC, a group of WAC, etc.

    In my Army career, i worked for, and had a number of women soldiers working under my leadership. I can not recall any case of which any of them was less of a soldier than their male counterpart; many times it was the other way around.

22. My mama, Mary Belle Huffman Ferris, was a Wac and served in London during the blitz, followed Eisenhower to Paris, and then Frankfurt. I found her service diary after she died in 2015. Most of it described her time in London, including going underground during the air raids, and how special it was to get chicken for dinner. Fascinating reading. Would love to hear from anyone who might have known her.

    1. Have you thought about getting her diary published? It would make a wonderful book.

23. Does Fold3 have WAC records now??? My great grandmother was a WAC X-Ray technician ‘44-‘45 while her husband was a POW from Wake Island in Japanese internment. I know she was part of a WAC sorority (I have her bracelet with her name and membership number engraved) but have never been able to find any information about her service since during her lifetime, she refused to talk about it and instead focused on her husband’s service. I would love to be able to find records if they are now available!

24. My father, James, was in the Navy and my mother, Ethel, was a WAC. My father served in the Pacific and my Mom in the mailroom, in Stockton, CA. I thank my mother and father for their service. God Bless all our service men and woman.

25. My mother was in the WAAC/WAAF stationed on Leyte during WWII. I later joined and was in the WAC from 1967 to 1970 and left as a 1st Lieutenant. Loved every minute of it and would have stayed in but if you got pregnant during that time you had to be discharged. Tried to rejoin later but would have had to give custody of my child while I was in. Still would have loved to have stayed in.

26. My Mom was a WAC too. She meet my Dad while serving at an air base in Pyote Texas late in WW2. Dad was unable at that time to serve over seas because of knee damage during his service earlier in the war. I still have many pictures of Mom training at Fort Des Moines. She claimed the best decision she made in life was to join the WACs. If not for her service as a WAC, I would not be writing this comment today. They were both proud veterans of their service in WW2 until the day they both passed away.

27. Both my Mom and Dad were army veterans of WW2, pacific theater. Dad was in the Mariana islands and Mom was in the Philippines and New Guinea with the 515 counter intelligence corps and was assigned to a war crimes investigation detail due to her clerical skills.Mom was interesting to hear Her stories and She always would tell of the suffering of our soldiers and sailors and the native peoples that were under the subjugation of the Japanese armed forces. My Mom and Dad met years after the war in civilian life and Dad was outranked by one grade and when a difference of opinion arose He would concede by saying “whatever you say Sarge!”.

    1. My mom was also a WAC in WWII and was in the Philippines and New Guinea. She was in charge of inventorying the property that the Japanese had taken from the native people and getting it back to them after the war. I have her letters that she wrote back to her sister in Texas during her time there.

    2. My husband served in the Army Air Corp on Tinian in WWII. He’s 97 and we
       are working on a military service album as part of our family tree albums. He tells some fasinating stories about being stationed on Tinian. He has looked
       up some of the fellows he served with. Most have passed, but he likes knowing
       what became of them when they returned home.

28. My Mom and I were both WACs. I volunteered to march in parade when stationed at APG, MD, when it was disbanded. I was 19 and it was nearing end of my 1st year or beginning my 2nd of Active Duty. Looooong time ago!

29. A Sept. 2, 1975 New York Times article mentioned my mother, Lt. Col. Grace King was removed as Commander of a WAC’s reserve battalion based in Alexandria VA August 6, 1975 due to conflicts with her Brigade Commander Col. Rumsey. She was a top advisor on the military for the National Organization for Women, (NOW), who testified before Congressional committees in behalf of women’s rights and in favor of the admission of women to the service academies.
    She said the Army was infuriated that she applied for and completed advanced armor school after the Army said no more women would be allowed to go to combat schools. She said her application sort of slipped through.
    After a long battle, she was able to get her position back.
    She said her whole thing has been to try to open up every job in the military to women that they’re capable of doing – “and they’re capable of doing them all.”

    I was in high school in Pennsylvania then and didn’t follow much on what was going on. Just she was hardly ever home since she was going to Virginia all the time, which my father would use as an excuse to get drunk.
    Then one day I was in shock when her name was mentioned on the National News on TV after she got her position back.

30. I only just found this site so I’ll have to come back with her dates…in the meantime ..my mother was Martha Rebecca Witherow… from Brookville, Pennsylvania, she joined the WACs in early 50’s…she was a midwife for the Army..she met/married my dad, Edmund J. Kuras who served for 22 years, Korea and Vietnam Nam, retired in 1972… unfortunately back then
    Married ment my mother leaving..
    She did tell me a story of her being asked if it was ok that she share her bunk room with a fellow WAC who was black …my mother couldn’t believe they would ask her such a question..
    She would be happy to…
    Also my Sister, Veronica A Kuras ,Major, also served the Army for many tears til MS made her relinquish her command. She joined I believe in 1980 after collage. ROTC…she became a single mom very early in her career..there were no officer maternity uniforms yet..had to wear enlisted maternity…she had quite a few issues with that…too many to list..but if you know military you can imagine..same for my mom..
    And my eldest brother,Edmund J.Kuras,Jr…1974/76?…Army medically discharged 1978
    Now my Niece has joined..my daughter wanted to but has since decided to re-think her career path towards medicine…a children’s psychiatrist.
    I’ll come back when I can find my mother’s dates…thank you
    Now I’m going to try and find here…Sincerely Karen

    1. Karen, My mother was stationed in Alabama and was furious with the racism there in the late 1940’s. There was some story she told me decades ago, where sodas were sold to whites only. She’d get them and smuggle them back to the African American WAC’s.

31. My Mother was the first woman from Wadsworth ,Ohio to join the WAACs.She shared a story of one of her incidents there that always makes me smile and remember my mother was a ‘sassy’ and classy lady. Her and a couple of her girlfriends (all in training) decided they would turn their black-seamed nylons so the seam was inside rather than showing on the outside and wear them when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited their training camp (somewhere in the south,I have forgotten where) .Their Commanding officer discovered their “rebellion” ,made them turn their nylons right side out and also made them turn their back to the face of the president- so they never got to see this prestigious event with a visit from the president of the United States.As she wrote in her skimpy journal,”but we were all swell girls”.

32. “My eyes are dim I cannot see, I have not brought my specks with me, I have not brought my specks with me. Well it’s gin gin gin that makes you want to sin in the corps, Women’s Army Corps, well it’s gin gin gin that makes you want to sin in the Women’s Army Corps.” My mother said they sang on their marches when she enlisted in the late 1940’s.

    1. Love this!

    2. I relish all our cadences from 1977, which that was one of them. Some were pretty funny and risqué.
       “If all of the GI’s were leaves on a tree,
       And I was the North Wind,
       I’d …… them all for free.”
       “They say that in the Army,
       The men are mighty fine;
       You ask for Robert Redford,
       They give you Frankenstein.” Etc…

33. My Mother was in the WAC’s. She met and married my father while they were both in uniform. It was the proudest part of both of their lives. They were simply country people who loved their country. My father was from VA and my mom from TN. They never would have met in other circumstances. My brother and I were the result. They went to school on the GI bill and made a simple life for themselves and their children. And as so many did they never went back to farm life. The war was a turning point for my family’s history.

34. As a young Infantry Lt, I commanded what was one of the last WAC Companies in the Army in Ft Meade, MD’s US Army Garrison in ‘76-77, which provided billeting and admin support to all female soldiers in the Garrison, most of whom were assigned to units without female barracks. I asked for the assignment when the female incumbent was PCS’g and there no other female officers to take it. When the WAC was disestablished in early ‘77, support of those personnel were folded into the Garrison Hqs Co; I recall one female officer still wore the old WAC Pallas Athena as her branch insignia. Always regret we didn’t have a fitting ceremony to recognize the decades of service the women of that unit represented.

    1. Bob,
       In 1977 I was in the last class of WAC officer training at Fort McClellan, AL. During a big parade we officially retired the WAC guidon. From that moment on I replaced the Pallas Athena for MI brass and continued to serve for a quarter century until retirement.

35. My uncle was stationed at Fort Custer Michigan when he married Bonnie King a WAC who worked in his motor pool. She was the first WAC from Fort Custer who was allowed to be married in a Bridal Gown. They were divorced after the war and I never got to see her again.Her original home was somewhere in New York.

36. Entered WAC service in 1975. Ft McClellan. Trained with wonderful gals. All races and backgrounds training, working and succeeding together. On to Ft Sam Houston, then Ft Ord. Had the time of my life.

37. Major Charity Adams Earley was the first African-American to be an officer in the WAC and the highest ranking African-American officer by the end of WWII. She continued to serve the community after she left the service. Her efforts remain after her death. Check out her autobiography One Woman’s Army!

    1. Ooops–make that LT COL Charity Adams Earley.

    2. did she workin Washington D.C. in 1945

    3. I checked in her autobiography. She was in England and then France from JAN1945 until MAR1946 when she returned to civilian life in the US. She was in DC briefly in MAR 1946 where she met with Mary McLeod Bethune and received the distinguished service award from the National Council of Negro Women.

38. My Aunt Served as an Army Nurse during WWII. Obtained the rank of major and was station on Kodiak Island Alaska. She was an amazing lady.

39. I was a WAC. Joined in 1977 as a WAC then we were integrated into the Regular Army in 1978 and 1979.

40. My great aunt on my maternal side, Alethia Brickhouse Klein, was interviewed by Mrs. Hobby who told her she came from a “fine old American family.” My aunt was baffled as they were ordinary folk from rural VA and NC. But the govt was looking for someone with deep unquestionable American patriotic roots. My aunt was assigned to work next to Oppenheimer as his head cryptologist during the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. She took raw scientific data and put it into Army code. She always had a bodyguard when leaving the base! I have literature and her correspondence during that period, and letters of commendation for her extraordinary service from Oppenheimer and from General Grove.
    After the war, she and her husband settled in NM, but every year for 30 years they drove east to visit family, and because of Mrs/Colonel Hobby’s comments, was inspired to trace her roots in NC and VA.

    I inherited her notes and docs, and all her hard work to create a family history. Another distant relative spent 18 years researching the Brickhouse lineage. Then along comes Ancestry.com and fold3.com. I’ve been able to trace my maternal roots to the 1600’s in Colonial America, many times over along several lines, most notably to 1648 on the Eastern Shores of VA, to MA during the Great Migration of 1620-1640, and in mid 1600’s in NC when King Charles II sent lords to secure Carolina (now NC and SC) from the encroaching Spanish from the South.
    Thrilling to learn.
    Thank you, Aunt Lee, for your service and for your tenacious curiosity!
    And btw, my military family is grateful for our patriotic POTUS. He recognizes, respects and cares for those who serve us, after years of neglect and contempt under the previous administration.

41. I was a WAC, served from Oct 1967 – Jan 1988. I had BT in Fort McClellan, AIT at Fort Sam Houston, TX, and OJT at Ft McPherson, GA. I was assigned to several different WAC companies and detachments and then integrated into the regular Army in 1978. I think most of use really missed the closeness we had to the other women when we were in the WAC. I served in Germany twice, the rest of my time was spent in the states. I retired after 20 years active duty.
    Just a note of correction, Army nurses were not WAC, they were members of the Army Nurse Corps.

42. I was a WAC Feb. 1955 – April 1957 – BT at Ft. McClellan. Stationed at South Ft. Myers 8th Army Signal Corps and work out of the Pentagon for a year then transferred to Japan for a year. Met my future husband at the NCO club in Ft. Myers. He was in a band playing there. We communicated while I was in Japan and married a couple of years after I returned to the states and worked at the Pentagon again until I found a daytime position. I wanted to see the world being from a small town in WV and I did see a portion of it. Loved every minute of it.

43. I joined the Army National Guard in 1973 and did Basic Training in the WAC at Ft. McClellan, AL, then AIT at Ft. Rucker, AL before returning home to my Guard unit. I was in on the first wave of the WAC expansion program. We had some very strange looking uniforms (none were eventually accepted) and had to report to the WAC commander and also Post commander during AIT. I stayed in the Guard for 20 years and retired. I was a UH-1 mechanic/crew chief, cross-trained as a medic and was in the Gulf War.

44. Loveed reading the comments!

    Our local historical society has received a photo of the 1945 WAC graduating class at Des Moines ; captioned:

    COMPANY 10, 3RD REG, FIRST WAC TRAINING CENTER, FORT DES MOINES, IA – PVT MARVEL A SCHMIDT JUNE 25 1945
    The photo has been posted, some time ago, on the facebook page:
    https://www.facebook.com/Themuseumwithapast
    It pretty much matched the photo posted here (with name exceptions)– the same background!
    I too am looking forward to searching Fold3 for WAC records!

45. I joined the WAC’s in 1966 I was a Hispanic girl from Texas enjoyed serving. Yet I was discharged as an F-4 for getting married and even on birth control pills I became pregnant. In 1971 a WAVE took her case all the way to the Supreme Court because she wanted the same benefits accorded to males to get maternity leave when their spouses were delivering. She won her case and I re-enlisted in 1972 losing a strip and having had a daughter while being discharged, and I served proudly until my retirement due to an illness caused by lack of attention when I was discharged for being pregnant in 1968. I loved my military career and still love the military. I’m now close to 75 years and have great memories due to my career. My 1st marriage ended in divorce but when I re-entered the military I did the same thing and married another G I and we had a glorious time serving together. Even had our daughter while serving in Thailand when we were getting our troops out of Vietnam. Rough yes but what isn’t rough?

46. I enlisted into the Women Army Corps in Sep 1970 and left the service in Feb 1978 in Germany. I was one of the first married females allowed to stay in the WAC in 1972 at Fort Rucker, AL. I was also one of the first to stay in the Army in 1974 when I became pregnant. When I got pregnant there were no uniforms; I had to wear civilian clothes with no rank or name plate. When I got off the plane in Frankfurt, Germany in May 1975 they didn’t know what to do with me. The rule had changed while I was on PCS leave stating no pregnant females were to travel overseas. My husband was in the Army and I told them I wasn’t going back to Fort Rucker without him. We were allowed to stay at Schwaebisch Hall, Germany. The only reason I left the service was because our daughter was sick. I retired from Federal Civil Service in 2014 from Fort Rucker. I enjoyed all of my Federal Civil.

47. My Mother Renna Bowman Wherry served in the WAAC 9 May 1943 to 31 August 1943 then in the WAC 1 September 1943 to 13 April 1946. Her “boot camp” was at Rohwer Arkansas Relocation Camp for internment of Japanese Americans from California prior to their arrival. Everyone’s “street clothes” were worn out before uniforms finally arrived. She went on as an instructor in a Service Training Unit where she (and others) would hide in the stairwell at night teaching many trainees how to read. In 1945 she attended a Lab Tech course at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. She served the remainder as a Tech Fourth Grade at the Army and Navy General Hospital in Hot Springs AR and Camp Robinson Regional Hospital in North Little Rock AR. She regaled us with many stories from her service before passing from this life May 5, 2016 at 98.

48. Gloria Rodriguez, were you in Delta Co. at Ft. Jackson in 1975 by chance? There was a Rose Rodriguez in basic w/me at the time Sept. ’75 thru Jan.’76. Basic & my AIT were all at Ft. Jackson

49. I was a member of the WAC and served in Vietnam. The WAC was disbanded shortly after Vietnam. The Vietnam Women Veterans group are very few now, but the DOD does not actually know how many served. We are always looking for the WAC’s who actively served in-country in Vietnam. Please if you know of any WAC’s who served there please contact my email.

50. My mother’s sister was a member and served in Paris, France. She marched in the Victory Parade, August 1944, on the Champs Elysees. She can be seen in the well known marching photo of the WACs, first flank, 4th from front. We are very proud of her as well as all who served.

51. I joined the WAC on March 14th, the WAC’s 14th Anniversary. There were 14 of us and we were interviewed on TV (a big deal at that time) and there was a cake and a party to celebrate. I was in the last platoon to graduate from Ft. Lee, Virginia, before they moved to Ft. McClelland. I took clerk typist training in Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and spent the rest of my time at Ft. Belvour, Virginia working at Service and Supply, Department of Mechanical and Technical Equipment where I wore brass with the US and Corps of Engineers emblems.

    1. Wow! Thank you for your service!

    2. Thank you for your service and paving the way for the women of today!

    3. Thank you so much

    4. What year was that? I went to Ft McClellan in 1973. I am very proud to have been a WAC.

    5. Was it 1957? 1943+14

    6. Hello and thank you for your service as well. My cousin who recently passed was a Captain in the armed services I believe either in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s as well. I am presently trying to research some additional information about her time in the service. I know she was a nurse and I know she served in Okinawa.

52. I joined the WAC on 28 Nov 1977; shortly thereafter we attended a ceremony to retire the WAC flag. So I was a WAC for a few days. I was issued the Pallas of Athena insignia. After the ceremony, the drill sergeants seemed to get even meaner, if that was possible. They yelled at us, “You’re a ‘Soldier’ now!”
    We never did “girl” push-ups. We also did the live-fire movement-to-target Training. The WAC uniforms were the equivalent of the summer-weight battle dress uniform (BDU) today; so we practically froze to death. I still have my cotton-wool long underwear in which the knees are still stained from low-crawling in that (icy) Alabama red clay!

    1. Interesting Terry. I enlisted in the Army 26 May 1977 and was told they were no longer recruiting for the WAC, which I didn’t want to join. Boot camp was at FT Jackson in Nov 77. We were the test cycle for coed boot camp. DIs were very tough on us. Upon graduation we were also issued the Pallas Athena. Those Fatigue uniforms were a joke as were the long Johns. It was a great experience !

    2. Lol! Well, I wouldn’t use that term to describe basic training! I did hear that the co-ed training was a lot harder than ours.

       I had not a clue what I was doing, as far as The WAC Corps or not when I signed up. The recruiters told me I’d go to radar training in FL for eight mos. I ended up going to Ft. Rucker, AL for Air Traffic Control School. I still had no clue.

       My three children don’t believe me that I was so shy and even afraid to pick up the mic. back then. I just tell them, it took me 24+ years in the Army to get my Big Mouth! Lol.

       How far did you stay with the Army?

    3. I too came into the military at the end of the Women’s Army Corp, and was issued the Pallas Athena insignia. But we were combat support trained with the M16, the machine gun, hand granades, running in combat boots wearing steel pots and we gear loaded with entrenching tools etc. There wasn’t anything feminist about how we dressed or what we did. I also had basic training in Alabama – Ft McClellan, but in March so it wasn’t cold.
       Basic training was a crash fitness program for sure, and we all felt great about accomplishing it.

53. My mother was a WAC during WWII. She recalled getting training in Massachusetts then was stationed at Fort Sheridan IL where she met my dad at the end of the war.(He spent his war years fighting in the Phillipines). She was buried with military honors 2 years ago, my Dad in 1987. I have some great photos of hers from her time at Fort Sheridan several with names of her fellow service women. Would be happy to share particularly with family members or send to Fold3. Just let me know how. Mothers name was Dorothy (Schiffbauer) Shizak from Morgantown, WV.

    1. Mickey

       Could you also send information to the Women in Military Service for American Memorial foundation, inc.

       http://www.womensmemorial.org located near Arlington National. You can register her on their web site. Pass on to other women service members. Keep their legion alive and shared.

54. My grandma, Emma Weitzein Hadley, worked In a parachute factory during W11; probably in Clevand, OH or mid MI. She made my christening gown out of parachute silk in 1945. All future family members have been baptized in that gown store nice 1945.
    Would love to know more about that factory.

    1. Susan, could mid Mi be Belding, MI? One or more factories there made parachutes during the war. Belding is roughly halfway between Grand Rapids and Lansing. To this day it’s nickname is Silk City USA. Don’t know about Cleveland. Hope this helps. Jack

55. My mother was a WAC and served during WWII. She was stationed in San Diego. I have several pictures of her and friends. I wish I had written down their names because now I can’t remember them. Mom passed away in 1996. Her name was Mary Louise Long from Ms if anyone knows her, I sure would like to hear from you.

56. My mother is shown in a uniform in Houston, Texas in family photos and was wondering how I might be able to find a membership listing for a volunteer unit. I was only 5 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. During the following years I remember Uncles in the Army and Navy. My mother was a volunteer for many different organizations during this time and later as I was growing into my teen and adult life. I would appreciate any assistance in how to research this item. Thanks,

57. Read the Code Girls. These ladies made some very valuable contributions to the War Effort and should receive top billing

58. Interesting that this is coming on the heels of a new book called The D-Day Girls. It’s about British Army women inserted into occupied western Europe in advance of D-Day. It’s said to be a very good read.

59. my cousin was a WAAC (nurse) during WWII. Her name was Mary G. Moran, Maj, USArmy Retired. I know where she is buried and have her enlistment record. I know from folklore that she was @ the Battle of the Bulge, New Guinea, North Africa. I would like copies of her paperwork. She was a true hero.

60. Have contacted various fed. agencies but have yet to really get a reply. As add’l focus comes to women’s various expanding roles, just wonder if info on the earliest U.S. solder to serve under the command of a woman U.S. officer would be of any interest to anyone? Noting that the history of woman officially in the military only dates from mid-WWII or so, I served under a woman major (as a SP4) in 1963 which, seems amazing to me, was only about 20 years later. It would seem I would at least be contention for having the tiny place in history, as the first male soldier to do so. I was serving a 3 year obligation (back in universal draft times) and was writing military history in a NATO Command [Europe – Central Army Group (CENTAG). When my initial boss, a male major, was rotated by to the U.S., that position was eventually filled by a woman major, for at least a major portion of my last year of service. I never thought anything of it at the time, but as the years have gone by I can’t help but think that maybe this was a pretty unique experience, now thinking especially for over 60 years ago.
    However, as a bit of humor shows, not everyone was accepting with that situation. CENTAG was a tri-national headquarters (French, German, and U.S.), designed to fill a wartime mission if it ever came to that. Each nationality had a general at the headquarters, as well as a functioning top sergeant respectively. The German top sergeant was a rather young man, certainly friendly in everyday affairs, but when the woman major was assigned to the headquarters he was absolutely against ever saluting a woman (have no idea about nowadays but remember, this was the German Army!). If he left headquarters bldg. and saw her coming down the sidewalk, he would turn the other way and walk completely around the complex, so he was not put in a position in which he would have to salute…a woman… John Hofmann

    1. I must have replaced the WAC major (I think her name was Taylor) at CENTAG in about 1966. Her job–and mine–was Historian and Officer Club manager. She was the only WAC assigned to CENTAG at the time. Two males worked for me–an E-7 and a Sp 4.De Gaulle withdrew from NATO just before I arrived so it became a German-American headquarters with a 2-star American general (B.F. Taylor) and a one star German general (Peter Karpinsky– who had been a POW of the Russians)
       It was one of my most interesting assignments.

61. My Aunt was stationed in France during WWII. You came home as a disable vet. Sybil Pickett. I would love to be able to get a copy of her military records.

62. My Aunt, Ruby Taylor, b 2 Apr 1911 in Alberta, Canada, raised in Chehalis, Washington, joined the US Coast Guard in about 1942. I think her last assignment was in Charleston, South Carolina, because she was married in Charleston in Dec 1945 shortly after WWII ended in Sep 1945. Her spouse, William R Taylor, b 1910 in Wallace, Idaho, who had been an architect & Engineer as a civilian, was in the Army, probably the branch which preceded the Core of Engineers. He was also a pilot, but did not fly as his duty in the Army. They met while in the service, perhaps in Charleston, and married there before returning to the northwest to settle in Portland, Oregon, near William’s family. They both had the surname of Taylor.

    Does anyone know how to find in Fold 3 the enlistment & duty records of the women who served in WWII in the US Coast Guard? I have good photos of Ruby in her uniform; she was proud to serve. I can find no military record for her. I would appreciate any help.

63. My mother, Margaret Rogan (a very attractive natural redhead), joined the WAAC in 1945. After basic training at Ft. Oglethorpe, GA, she was stationed (somewhere) in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she met my father, William Latham)a handsome young Navy Chief Petty Officer (who was later promoted to Warrant Officer, then awarded a commission, and eventually retired as a Captain). She left the Army when they married (after a courtship of only three weeks), and became a Navy wife. She died in 2005. If anyone out there knew her during that brief period in 1945, I’d love to hear from you.

    1. Charles John Stephenson here, b 05/20/1945 in Des Moines Iowa. My Mother, Sara Ida Simcox, Entered as a WAAC, trained at Ft. Oglethorpe, GA, March 13th 1943, transferred to Kellogg Field, Battle Creek, MI September 01, 1943 then to Coffeeville, KA December 23, 1944. Passed in 2007. Do you remember any mention of her or a friend with the last name of Rathmell? I have a picture of Mom next to an Air Plane?

64. My sister-in-law was a WAC stationed in England during WWII. She was a Lt. She died in 2014 at the age of 94. She loved her service time. She told many stories of serving in England, during the bombings.

65. My mother, Marylee Comisak, joined the Women’s Army Corps in Pittsburgh, PA in February of 1943. She had basic training in Daytona Beach, FL, was sent to Moore Air Field in Texas and then to the European Theater. She was among the group of WACs sent to Paris in August after D-Day and received a battle star for the Battle of the Bulge. She was always proud of her service to her country, and when she died in 1982, she requested that she be buried in her uniform. She has a veteran’s marker on her grave. I am so very proud of her!

    1. My mother, Elizabeth London, joined the Women’s Army Corps in Altoona, PA, April of 1943. She was from DuBois, PA. She also had basic training in Daytona Beach Florida. I have a panorama photo of all the women in their uniforms in Daytona Beach, dated May 28, 1943. I suppose she just missed your mother. She never went overseas, however, she did train pilots how to fly using instruments. Simulations were done in a Link Trainer. She considered her time in the WACs as the highlight of her life. She died in 2015.

    2. Dear Johanna, my family owned the Oaks Hotel in Daytona and the WAACS took over our hotel about 1942-43. I was a baby but my older siblings remember the wonderful girls, some of them were nurses. Do you have any memories of your mother’s stay in Daytona? I have 3 older siblings in their 80s who would love to hear about this. Thanks, Bonnie Tippets

    3. Bonnie,
       I wish I had memories to pass along, but I don’t. I have a few photos but none feature a hotel or dwelling.

66. My mother, Sarah Lilly Hughes was a nurse (Lt) in the army stationed in England during the war. I believe she became part of the Cactus division and do know she was present during the liberation of some of the camps. She did not talk much about her experiences but was so proud to serve.
    Would love to read more about the nurses stationed there during WWII. Any suggestions or memoirs?

    1. Having not read it, I don’t know what all it covers, but a play recreating a mythical radio show from December 1944 used “No Time for Fear” as a source. Blurbs I have read about it says it’s a compendium of the reminiscences of US Army nurses on the Western Front during WWII. I believe you can find it on Amazon.

67. Mary T Tarzanin (later Hill) served in the WAC from 1944 to 1949, she was my Mom. She completed her basic training at Ft Oglethorpe GA and was stationed in Alabama at Maxwell Field. I have her photograph of Company 9, 21st Regiment taken on September 8, 1944 at Ft Oglethorpe. I will gladly email a copy to anyone who thinks someone in their family could be in that shot. It’s also under her profile on Ancestry.com.

68. I am currently reading a book entitled IT’S MY COUNTRY TOO Women’s Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan. Edited by Jerri Bell & Tracy Crow. It is well written and VERY interesting.
    As a WAC that endured all the nonsense associated with being a white with a black NCO (early 70’s), a female NCO chewing out a male NCO, the first woman in my battalion to report the 1SG for sexual harrassment, the first female to go through Artic Survival School in Artic Village, Alaska…I can honestly say I believe I survived everything the Army could throw at me.
    I spent 21 years in boots. I would not exchange my service for anything.

69. I served in the last unit to have a WAC connotation. After us we became part of the US Army. That was in 1973/1974 when I went through basic training at Ft. McClellan.

70. I enlisted as a WAC in September of 1973 and went to Basic Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. While we did spend time out in the field, learning what to do in the case of chemical warfare or tear gas, we also learned how to put on makeup and so forth. Like our male counterparts, we learned how to march, learned the UCMJ, who, how and when to salute, etc. We, unlike our male counterparts at the time, also did our own laundry. Our beds were expected to be made correctly; the clothing in our trunks had to be folded the military way and our hanging clothes hung a certain distance apart, facing in one direction. It was quite an experience. I attended school in Massachusetts, where I met my future husband. I served in Thailand and Germany. I am proud of my service to our country.

71. My mother served in North Africa. She was a telephone operator. Among other things she worked the Cairo Conference. She was transferred to Italy where she met my father who was stationed there. They married in Naples and honeymooned on Capri. After VE day she had enough points to come home. My father was going to the Pacific but ended up not having to go because of Hiroshima. Many years later I was able to share notes with my mother after I went into the Great Pyramid 30 years after she did. Like her, I was in the Army.

72. I have an autographed copy of Maddie Treadwell’s autographed book which I dearly treasured. What pioneer women they were!

73. I was a WAC in 1975 with basic a Ft Jackson. Was very saddened when they abolished the Corp and I had to remove my insignia. I had joined the WACs and that’s where I wanted to be.

    1. @Ann Stone I wished I could have tried the WAC’s too, but my mother was a women’s libber, so I was kind of glad to join the Regular Army she fought so hard for women to be part of. But it was lonely and boring, nothing but drugged, drunk, girl chasing men around. The one man I made friends with getting bullied by the others because we were friends not lovers.

74. I joined the Army in October 1971. After basic training at Ft McClellan, I worked as an office coordinator for the MI headquarters at Ft Devons. At Ft Devons the women were housed in old wooden barracks that were built during the Korean war. I remember waking up one morning to find snow on my blanket, even though the window was closed. The snow had blown in through the cracks in the walls! Later, we were moved into bettter barracks. A modern multistory building had been built for the men- we got to move into their old concrete barracks. At least it wasn’t drafty.

75. Wac uniforms were a joke. Colonel Clark wanted her women to be dressed like ladies. That is why the Wac uniforms were made of such stupid fabric and fitted in such an unpractical fashion. One example was our stiff, starched, cotton PT uniform, with a buttoned short-sleeve blouse, cotton shorts and a starched skirt that buttoned up the front. Women’s fatigues were tight fitting with pockets that were practically useless.

    Imagine working as an office coordinator, taking care of the motor pool and carrying sacks of mail while wearing a skirt! I remember the day that the Army announced a new uniform for women- the pantsuit! I immediately went to the PX and bought one. I didn’t want to wait months to be issued one for free.

    Our combat boots were not like the mens. Wac combat boots were lady-like, with pointed toes and smooth leather soles. This was very bad for women who were out in the field, especially if they had to run over uneven terrain. In basic training, I slipped and sprained my ankle. But there were certainly women nurses in Vietnam who had worse experiences because of those wretched boots.

76. I joined the military as a WAC, Very proud of that. I joined 1 MAY 1974, FT McClellan, AL from NY. RETIRED 30 APRIL 2016. Served 42 years. I have been all over the US, Germany and Iraq. (OIF). Ended career as CW4.I would not have traded it for the world.

77. Thank you all for your service to our country. I have a question that I would appreciate help with my mother in-law worked in washington D.C.in 1945 until the war ended Her name was Linda Bantarri.Family history says she worked for the first women general as a clerk secretary and may have married or been engaged to a (Joe)Mckenna who worked there also . I need some help to track this down . She later moved to New York Her family was from Hibbing [email protected] Please help thank you…

78. I too was the last of the WAC’s— I enlisted may1977 — ft Jackson basic training but also ft Jackson ait—basic was a wac —ait no longer — so literally last of wac’s

79. Ladies,
    Thanks, thanks, thanks!

80. The Cord uniform was a lot better than the light weight Class A with skirt especially in the South for garrison Soldiers. The light weight fatigues that the women in aviation wore were better than the usual fatigues. I wore them at Fort Rucker, AL and in Germany. I wore men boots because supply or post didn’t have female boots with blousing rubbers.

81. I SALUTE ALL ARMY WOMEN!! I was Navy, Korean War, so I want all you folks who have commented here to be sure and check this out.A place to put your family member or yourself in the DATA BASE of the WOMEN’S MILITARY MEMORIAL in Washington DC. The cost is $25.00 dollars to enter them into this great tribute for serving our country. I gain nothing from this, just want you to know family can look these great women up in the future, preserving their names forever. You can give the info for your loved ones by calling this toll free number: 800-222-2294 or http://www.womensmemorial.org My son was Army. God Bless America.

    1. WIMSA (Women in military service to America) also includes a section for civilian women who worked with the military, e.g., Red Cross.

    2. Yes Eileen, I am not surprised, plenty of gals served the Red Cross, it was a huge part of WWll. They also honor young ladies who were in Cadet Nurse training also. The sad story of WWll was the women who flew fighters and bombers. They were shrouded, like ghosts, nobody knew about it till many years after the war. Too many! Anyone who did their share deserves to be honored. It was a scary time for the world, pray no one like Hitler shows up again.

82. My mother, Arlette Buchholz, enlisted in the WAAC then stayed when it became WAC. She went to Ft Devens, not too far for a girl from Dubuque IA. Her first posting was recruitment office in Memphis. Her unit (6718) then went to North Africa briefly then on to Caserta Italy. She worked for the MAAF office for General Eaker among others. She felt her time in the service was the most important of her life. I have several photos of her and others in her unit in uniform and relaxed. She returned to IA after the war but just couldn’t stay put. She went to Germany as a civilian to serve in the Office of Military Government US in Berlin. She met my dad on the ship heading overseas and they married in Berlin.

83. I joined the Wac in April 1964. We did our basic training at Fort McCelland Anniston Alabama. No guns in those days just a baseball bat during bivac. Anniston was not a nice place for back women. They seemed to know how to hand it e the South of the 60s better than a girl from California. We had a lot of army history courses and physical training. We did kp in those days. Had a blue skirt and blouse with combat boots. Went on to Fort Holabird located in Baltimore Md for Intelligence School. You were somewhat isolated in the forts. We had a lot of protesters in those days of early Vietnam . We had an induction center on the corner of the post. Our sergeants that were women at the time were former WW 2 Wacs. They were putting in the end of their 20 years. I believe my time in the Army was a growing up time. In basic training we had women who had never seen a store bought bar of soap
    You learned to work together. We were all races. Our goal. Graduate basic training.

    My father was in WW1 and my neighbors growing up WW 2. My family fought in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Civil War maybe not on the right side but in what they believed states right. And we need Ww2 and I’m a Vietnam era vet.

84. Just want to recognize on women’s history month that my Aunt Patricia Malone from Lowell, Mass. served in the WACS during WW2. Heard as a boy my parents always say she served on the switchboard when the Germans surrendered. Thank you Aunt Pat and all who served!

    1. Thank you for your service Aunt Pat.

85. This is a great forum, I am reading all these entries and realize you girls are reconnecting through this… It is great.
    I am Canadian, but I still say thanks for you service.

86. This is great! My mother was in the WAC before I was born. She got out in late 45 or early 46 when she married my dad. I wasn’t born till 51 when dad came home after long stint in Germany. I’ve got pictures that I treasure of her in uniform and various things she was doing. Thank all of you for your service!

87. Two of my great aunts served; I think one in the WAC and the other in the WAAC. In the blog there is a photograph of a unit. Are there photographs of all the units? If so, where/how would I access them?

88. Fort McClellan 1963.

89. Joette. Also Fort Holabird in 1964.

90. Ft.McClellan Oct. 1970, USWAC. Delta Company Basic Training. Searching for K. Little. and C. Mancini. Lost track of you but have held on to the memories. Sgt. Kim replaced Sgt. Dennis. Little, you remember that?;( Would love to replace my Pallas Athena Insignia.

91. My Mother Jean Telford joined the WAAC Sept 30,1942, Boston, MA, and was sent for basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Upon my mother’s passing in 2014, I found her service diary listing where she had been, along with photos. She served at Army Air Corps bases in Savannah, GA and North Carolina. Her last assignment was at Mitchell Field, Long Island, NY.

92. I enlisted May, 1974. Basic at Ft. McClellan, great memories. Last of the WACS. Never got to learn the M-16. Would love to know what ever happened to DS Ruff!
    Thanks for your service ladies!

93. does anybody have knowledge of a Linda Bantarri or a joe Mckenna from Sept. 2 1945 maybe stationed in Washington DC linda may have used his last name mckenna Believe he was a Capt. and she a secretary for I beieve the first women General? Hlp Please [email protected]

94. does anybody have knowledge of a Linda Bantarri or a joe Mckenna from Sept. 2 1945 maybe stationed in Washington DC linda may have used his last name mckenna Believe he was a Capt. and she a secretary for I beieve the first women General? Help Please [email protected]

95. I found the history very interesting. I enlisted in the WACs in Jan 1952. After basic training at Ft Lee, VA, I was assigned to the Signal Corps. I completed training as a cryptographer in Sept and was stationed at the Pentagon, Washington DC. From there to SHAPE Hdqrs, a Nato base, in France. I was discharged in Jan 1954. I had planned on making the WAC my career but, married and we decided to return to civilian life. A great two years!

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