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The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States as the WAC on 1 July 1943. Its first director was Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby. The WAC was disbanded in 1978, and all units were integrated with male units.
Edith Rogers was an American social welfare volunteer and politician who served in the United States Congress. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. Until 2012, she was the longest serving Congresswoman and was the longest serving female Representative until 2018. In her 35 years in the House of Representatives she was a powerful voice for veterans and sponsored seminal legislation, including the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, which provided educational and financial benefits for veterans returning home from World War II, the 1942 bill that created the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), and the 1943 bill that created the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was also instrumental in bringing federal appropriations to her constituency, Massachusetts's 5th congressional district. Her love and devotion to veterans and their complex needs upon returning to civilian life is represented by the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford Massachusetts that is named in her honor.
Mary Agnes Hallaren was an American soldier and the third director of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) at the time that it became a part of the United States Army. As the director of the WAC, she was the first woman to officially join the U.S. Army.
The United States Army's Officer Candidate School (OCS) is an officer candidate school located at Fort Benning, Georgia, that trains, assesses, and evaluates potential commissioned officers of the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. Officer candidates are former enlisted members, warrant officers, inter-service transfers, or civilian college graduates who enlist for the "OCS Option" after they complete Basic Combat Training (BCT). The latter are often referred to as college ops.
Elizabeth Paschel Hoisington was a United States Army officer who was one of the first two women to attain the rank of brigadier general.
Camp Shanks was a United States Army installation in the Orangetown, New York area. Named after Major General David C. Shanks, it was situated near the juncture of the Erie Railroad and the Hudson River. The camp was the largest U.S. Army embarkation camp used during World War II.
Tech4 Carmen Contreras-Bozak, was the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the U.S. Women's Army Corps (WAC) where she served as an interpreter and in numerous administrative positions.
Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent have participated as members of the United States Armed Forces in the American Civil War and in every conflict which the United States has been involved since World War I. In World War II, more than 65,000 Puerto Ricans service members served in the war effort, including the guarding of U.S. military installations in the Caribbean and combat operations in the European and Pacific theatres.
Charity Adams Earley was an American United States Army officer. She was the first African-American woman to be an officer in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and was the commanding officer of the first battalion of African-American women to serve overseas during World War II. Adams was the highest-ranking African-American woman in the army by the completion of the war. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion's motto was "No Mail, Low Morale." A monument honoring this unique group of women was dedicated at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on November 30, 2018.
Major General Jeanne Marjorie Holm was the first female one-star general of the United States Air Force and the first female two-star general in any service branch of the United States. Holm was a driving force behind the expansion of women's roles in the Air Force.
The United States Army Nurse Corps (USANC) was formally established by the U.S. Congress in 1901. It is one of the six medical special branches of officers which – along with medical enlisted soldiers – comprise the Army Medical Department (AMEDD). The ANC is the nursing service for the U.S. Army and provides nursing staff in support of the Department of Defense medical plans. The ANC is composed entirely of Registered Nurses (RNs).
Anna Mac Clarke was a Women's Army Corps officer during World War II. She became the first African American woman to be a commanding officer of an otherwise all-white regiment. She became a first lieutenant.
Mary Louise Milligan Rasmuson was an American army officer, and fifth director of the Women's Army Corps (WAC).
American women in World War II became involved in many tasks they rarely had before; as the war involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale, the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable. Their services were recruited through a variety of methods, including posters and other print advertising, as well as popular songs. Among the most iconic images were those depicting "Rosie the Riveter", a woman factory laborer performing what was previously considered man's work.
There have been women in the United States Army since the Revolutionary War, and women continue to serve in it today. As of 2020, there were 74,592 total women on active duty in the US Army, with 16,987 serving as officers and 57,605 enlisted. While the Army has the highest number of total active duty members, the ratio of women-men is lower than the US Air Force and the US Navy, with women making up 15.5% of total active duty Army in 2020.
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed the "Six Triple Eight", was an all-black battalion of the Women's Army Corps (WAC). The 6888th had 855 black women, both enlisted and officers, and was led by Major Charity Adams. It was the only all-black, all-female battalion sent overseas during World War II. The group motto was "No mail, low morale".
Millie Dunn Veasey was an American veteran, who served from 1942 to 1945 in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC).
Mary Catherine Willis is a retired US Army brigadier general.
Romay Davis is an American Congressional Gold Medal recipient known for her service in the first all-female, all-black unit in the United States Army that was deployed over seas during World War II.
Six Triple Eight is an upcoming American war drama film written and directed by Tyler Perry, based on a 2019 WWII History magazine article by Kevin M. Hymel.
References
- ↑ Armstrong, Jaedda (Jul 2, 2009). "One of first black women to serve overseas in WWII dies". The Virginian-Pilot . Retrieved April 17, 2019.
- ↑ "Celebrating the life of Gladys Schuster Carter". Virginia.gov . Jan 13, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
