WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS CELEBRATES 65th BIRTHDAY
Learn WAC history through personal accounts, site tours, museums and more

WAC training class at Ft Des Moines, IA. US Army Photo.

The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was created 65 years ago this month, on July 1, 1943, from the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), which was formed in 1942. Established by federal law, the WAC was the only women's service group to be formed as a corps within a branch of service and the only one to continue to operate as a corps after World War II.

More than 150,000 women served as WACs during World War II stateside and in both Pacific and European theaters. Nearly that same number of women served from 1946 until the WAC was disestablished and its members integrated into the Regular Army in 1978. One of those WACs integrating in 1978 was LTG Ann E. Dunwoody, who is now poised to become the first servicewoman promoted to four-star general. (Read more about Lt. Gen. Dunwoody, a charter member of the Women's Memorial, in this issue's story, "President Nominates First Woman For Four Stars.")

Readers are invited to gain personal perspectives from other WAC veterans who have shared their stories with the Women's Memorial. They include:

1. MAJ Beatrice (Seelav) Stecher, USAF (Ret.), who served in both the WAAC (1942-43) and the WAC (1943-48) before joining the US Air Force Reserve. She shared her story in a Women's Memorial Oral History.

A special group of Japanese- and Chinese-American servicewomen within the Women's Army Corps, the Nisei WACs, posed during World War II. US Army Photo.

2. Mother and daughter, Vada and Kathy Dobbins, who shared their WAC memories in a previous "News You Can Use" feature story, titled "A Heritage of Combat Boots: Three Generations of Army Women." Read how they each followed their family's World War I Army Nurse matriarch's bootsteps into the WAC.

3. CPL Helen M. Lee, who was among 50 Japanese-American and Chinese-American women specifically recruited by the WAC for training as translators during World War II. Her unique story is part of a Women's Memorial history feature on Asian-Pacific-American Servicewomen.

COL Oveta Culp Hobby was the first director of the WAAC/WAC, serving from 1942-1945. US Army Photo.

DISCOVER MORE WAC HISTORY
Those wishing to learn more about WAC history are also invited to visit the Women's Memorial in person, at the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA. Or, visit the history section of our Web site where, in addition, to a timeline highlight of the history of US servicewomen, readers can find a biographical feature about COL Oveta Culp Hobby, the first director of the WAAC/WAC.

The Army Women's Museum, located at Ft. Lee, VA, celebrates women's contributions to the Army from the Revolutionary War to the present and includes collections of WAC history and memorabilia, available both in its museum and viewable on the museum's Web site.

Additionally, the Post Community Association of Fort Oglethorpe, GA, offers tours of the Army base where many WACs were stationed and trained from 1942 to 1945. Tours of homes along Officer Row are available free to WAC veterans and guests, upon request to Association President Paula Munia by emailing pmuina@hotmail.com or calling 706-858-9540. For a list of special events at Ft. Oglethorpe, visit the Association's Web site.

Another WAC station, Carlsbad US Army Air Field in NM, is also inviting WACs to visit during Blank Page Productions' filming of a documentary about the air field's use during World War II. WAC Lynn Ashley is coordinating interviews with any interested WACs who were stationed at the Carlsbad air field from 1943-1946. She is also co-coordinating a Carlsbad Air Field reunion to coincide with the filmmaking this October. For more details, contact Dr. Ashley at 513-515-7217or email drlashley@fuse.net.

(July 2008)