Learn about Women in the WACS during World War II with these old magazine articles. Find information on the women in the U.S. Army during the 1940s.
All thanks to the efforts of a private donor, three lounges were built explicitly for the women volunteers of the WACs and WAVES. Furnished with vanities, hair dryers, magazines and ping-pong tables; they must have been a big hit – they look very much like the sets of a Fred Astaire movie.
Although the WAAC uniforms were designed by Dorthy Shavers (1893 – 1959) of Lord & Taylor, this short article credits U.S. Army Colonel L.O. Grice – who actually served more in the capacity as the Army’s artistic director who supervised the designer.
He picked everything from purses to panties for Uncle Sam’s powder-puff army…
Click here to read about the WAVE’s uniform…
Like other Army and Navy personnel, the members of the Women’s Army Corps have coined their own slanguage. If you hear a WAC say:
I’m off on an orchid hunt, kids – and no PFC. My night maneuvers are gonna be with a varsity crewman.
-you’ll know what she means after you’ve studied this [attached] glossary.
Attached are a few interesting factoids about the American lassies who served in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps throughout the Second World War.
The Women’s Army Corps (WAC), first organized as an auxiliary May 14, 1942, became ‘regular army’ a little more than a year later…They were secretaries and stenographers for generals. They operated switchboards which kept communications alive throughout the European theater of operations…Their keen eyes and quick fingers made them expert as parachute riggers. They became weather experts [charting the aerial routes for the long-range bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force].
140,000 women served as WACs – – although this article stated that there were only 100,000.
Fort Warren, Wyoming, is bleak, windswept, desolate. It is no wonder that the soldiers stationed there looked forward to the arrival at the lonely post of a unit of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). [When the women arrived] The men of Company H, Fifth Quartermaster Training Regiment, sent over an invitation to a party… The party was informal but military. The hosts marched in formation to their guests’ barracks where the two companies fell in behind their respective officers for the return trip. The evening included a buffet supper, attendance at boxing matches and refreshments afterwards.
