ARMY
During the Second World War, more than one hundred thousand American women volunteered in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), known initially as the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). Working both stateside and abroad, these women filled important roles in the army and played a crucial part in the allied war effort.
Prior to World War II, women’s service in the army was limited to nursing. As the war progressed, the need for women in the army quickly became apparent. Beginning in 1941, the idea for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps grew under the leadership of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers and the Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall. The bill establishing the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was passed in May 1942.
However, a year later, the auxiliary status of women in the army was revised. Because these women were serving with the army instead of in, training, discipline, and administration of the WAAC was often rife with contradictory policies. In July 1943, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps became the Women’s Army Corps, making these women official servicemembers of the army.
Most women who joined the army took on clerical or administrative jobs that had been vacated by men able to fight. Nevertheless, a variety of jobs were available for women in the army, ranging from accounting to bookkeeping, cryptography to baking, and secretaries to stenographers. Women between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five years old were eligible to enlist in the WAAC, and married women were permitted to enlist, as long as any dependents would be satisfactorily cared for.
Enlisting in the WAAC was a commitment to service throughout the war and for an additional six months after peace was declared. Helen Walsh was in the WAC from September 1942 until October 1945, serving overseas in Algeria, Italy, and France before returning home. Willie Mae Williams, of Archer, Florida, volunteered for service at 31, and worked as a hospital cook until 1945 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Sources:
Bellafaire, Judith. “The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service”. CMH Publication 72-15. 17 February 2005. Center for Military History, https://history.army.mil/brochures/WAC/WAC.HTM.
Treadwell, Mattie E. “The United States Army in World War II: The Women’s Army Corps.” Center of Military History. 1953.
Walsh, Helen E., Collection. The Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_04_0174. https://archives.lib.fsu.edu/repositories/6/resources/1018.
Williams, Willie Mae, collection. Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_04_0144. https://archives.lib.fsu.edu/repositories/6/resources/494.
