Women in WWII: Women's Army Corps

WAC: Women's Army Corps

During WWII the Women's Army Corps was one of few women's units to have been sent to both the European and Pacific theaters. Known as the WACS, they provided a variety of support roles to the Army and the Army Air Forces. Initially, it was hoped that women could act as secretaries and in administrative positions so that men could be relieved for more physical roles, and take on fighting roles. However, by the end of the war, women were performing in more than just secretarial tasks, an working as everything from radio operators in England to truck drivers and airplane mechanics in the Pacific Islands. However, in large majority, over 70 percent of the the WACs roles were desk jobs of some sort, regardless if it was a supply depot clerk or a telegraph operator.

Eleanor Roosevelt was among the first to realize that women should be used in the U.S. Army, as well as other branches of the service. Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers from Massachusetts agreed. The debate became an outright congressional argument, but somehow, by December 31st of 1941, there was an officially proposed bill to create a women's auxiliary for the army. This was a large compromise on part of those in favor of the bill, but the bill itself had no hope of passing if it actually allowed women into the army. The bill took until May of 1942 to become written into law. Oveta Culp Hobby was asked to come to Washington in the summer of 1941 to set up a women's interests section of the War Department Bureau of Public Relations. Her position had nothing to do with the new women's corps, but she had been designated to handle its public relations. By Feb 1942, she was named director of the new Women's Army Auxilliary Corps.

The initial class of WACs (or WAAC's, as their first name implied) had their work cut out for them. In an attempt to intimidate women, there were grueling tests, both mental and physical. The Army seemed to think that a women had to out perform a man, and the WAC's lived up to the challenge. A WAC private was required to be a high school graduate, while men were required to be able to read. The average officer was 30 and possessed a graduate degree. many of the enlisted WACS, too, had degrees, and their roles in the army were quite restricted by their Auxiliary status, and in the hopes of keeping the program alive, since the need for troops far outweighed the need for women's rights at the time. Propaganda both for and against the WAC program was also very high, and there were many rumors about women in the WAC. Many upstanding families did not their daughters and wives to be labeled "that type of woman", however, the war effort slowly won out.

On July 1, 1943, the WAC's became a part of the military, and Oveta Culp Hobby became its Colonel. There were several reasons for the change, but mostly, the Army had several loopholes that the WACs seemed to fall through, and, as more and more WACs were sent overseas, it was clear that they needed to eliminate some of the vulnerabilities the Auxiliary had created.

On V-E day, in 1945, there were 99,388 WACs serving with the Army and Army Air Force. 1946, six months after V-J day, the WACs were to be disbanded. However, so many generals, including Generals Patton and Eisenhower, the Army's new chief of Staff, realized their value, and the WACs were rescued and officially made part of the military on January 15, 1946. It wasn't until 1978 that the Women's Army Corps was dissolved and women were fully integrated into the army.

For more information on a WAC living history impression or WAC uniforms, visit the reenactor's guide.

WAC: Women's Army Corps

Recommended Reading on the Women's Army Corps in WWII: