Army Girl Download Torrent
Ted Brathwaite
Mae Krier, 93, an original Rosie the Riveter, worked at Boeing aircraft, producing B-17s and B-29s for the war effort from 1943 to 1945 in Seattle. She is advocating Congress for getting March 21 recognized annually as a Rosie the Riveter Day of Remembrance. Saying she wants to inspire a "We Can Do It!" attitude among young girls everywhere, she also is advocating that Congress award the Rosies the Congressional Gold Medal for their service.
By autumn 1941, more than 20,000 women had volunteered to serve in the Women's Land Army (WLA). One third of these volunteers had lived in London or another large city. Posters, such as this one, suggested that the WLA offered a healthy outdoor lifestyle, which perhaps appealed to many urban women and girls.
Many land girls lived in at the farms where they worked. However, in many rural areas, living conditions could be very basic and the lifestyle lonely. As larger numbers of women were recruited, hostels were set up to house land girls. By 1944, there were 22,000 land girls living in 700 hostels.
By 1944, when the Women's Land Army was at its peak, around one quarter of all land girls were employed in some form of dairy work. This painting depicts a scene at Sparsholt Farm Institute near Winchester. This was a former agricultural college which had been converted into a training establishment for members of the Women's Land Army.
Pests such as rats posed a serious threat to supplies of food and animal fodder on British farms. During wartime, there were thought to be over 50 million rats in Britain. To help counter this threat, teams of land girls were trained to work in anti-vermin squads. Two land girls are reputed to have killed 12,000 rats in just one year. Land girls in anti-vermin squads also were also trained to kill foxes, rabbits and moles.
While the majority of land girls were employed on general farm work, many were also given the opportunity to carry out more specialist horticultural tasks. Until 1943, some were employed in private country houses to help maintain extensive kitchen gardens. The famous botanic gardens at Kew in Surrey also employed land girls. The camomile being harvested in this photograph was planted at the request of the Ministry of Home Security for use as a quick-growing, wiry camouflage for new airfields.
As part of the drive to produce extra food, the Government needed more land to be turned over for food production. Efforts were made to transform areas of land previously unsuitable for farming. One of the most significant projects was in East Anglia where thousands of acres of fenland were drained. Heavy machinery such as excavators and tractors, often operated by land girls, were needed to carry out this work.
Land girls were not the only additional work force available to farmers. By 1943, there were almost 40,000 Italian prisoners of war working on British farms. In some places they worked alongside land girls. The general public was also encouraged to help out with farm work, especially at harvest time. This was seen as a cheap way of taking a holiday in the countryside. Special camps were set up to accommodate volunteers.
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Introducing the PLASTIC ARMY WOMEN COLLECTOR SERIES from BMC Toys. This all new set of female figures is designed in the classic style of the best plastic army men of the mid-20th century. The set includes 36 pieces in 22 different poses along with a working dog with leash and stretcher accessories. The poses include Pathfinder Captain, Combat Pathfinder Captain, Standing Rifleman, Kneeling Rifleman, Prone Rifleman, Kneeling Sharpshooter, Prone Sharpshooter, Advancing with Bayonet, Grenadier, Bazooka Operator, Running Riflemen, Combat Medic, Low Crawling, Radio Operator, Wounded Soldier, Light Machine Gunner, Nurse, Corpsman, Mechanic, Military Working Dog, MWD Handler, and stretcher accessory.
Highly relevant today, World War II has much to teach us, not only aboutthe profession of arms, but also about military preparedness, global strategy,and combined operations in the coalition war against fascism. During thenext several years, the U.S. Army will participate in the nation's 50thanniversary commemoration of World War II. The commemoration will includethe publication of various materials to help educate Americans about thatwar. The works produced will provide great opportunities to learn aboutand renew pride in an Army that fought so magnificently in what has beencalled "the mighty endeavor."World War II was waged on land, on sea, and in the air over severaldiverse theaters of operation for approximately six years. The followingessay on the critical support role of the Women's Army Corps supplementsa series of studies on the Army's campaigns of that war.This brochure was prepared in the U.S. Army Center of Military Historyby Judith A. Bellafaire. I hope this absorbing account of that period willenhance your appreciation of American achievements during World War II.
The Women's Army Corps in World War II Over 150,000 American women served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) duringWorld War 11. Members of the WAC were the first women other than nursesto serve within the ranks of the United States Army. Both the Army andthe American public initially had difficulty accepting the concept of womenin uniform. However, political and military leaders, faced with fightinga two-front war and supplying men and materiel for that war while continuingto send lend-lease material to the Allies, realized that women could supplythe additional resources so desperately needed in the military and industrialsectors. Given the opportunity to make a major contribution to the nationalwar effort, women seized it. By the end of the war their contributionswould be widely heralded. The Women 's Army Auxiliary Corps Early in 1941 Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts met withGeneral George C. Marshall, the Army's Chief of Staff, and informed himthat she intended to introduce a bill to establish an Army women's corps,separate and distinct from the existing Army Nurse Corps.Rogers remembered the female civilians who had worked overseas withthe Army under contract and as volunteers during World War I as communicationsspecialists and dietitians. Because these women had served the Army withoutbenefit of official status, they had to obtain their own food and quarters,and they received no legal protection or medical care. Upon their returnhome they were not entitled to the disability benefits or pensions availableto U.S. military veterans. Rogers was determined that if women were toserve again with the Army in a wartime theater they would receive the samelegal protection and benefits as their male counterparts.As public sentiment increasingly favored the creation of some form ofa women's corps, Army leaders decided to work with Rogers to devise andsponsor an organization that would constitute the least threat to the Army'sexisting culture. Although Rogers believed the women's corps should bea part of the Army so that women would receive equal pay, pension, anddisability benefits, the Army did not want to accept women directly intoits ranks.The final bill represented a compromise between the two sides. The Women'sArmy Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was established to work with the Army,"for the purpose of making available to the national defense the knowledge,skill, and special training of the women of the nation." The Army wouldprovide up to 150,000 "auxiliaries" with food, uniforms, living quarters,pay, and medical care. Women officers would not be allowed to command men.The Director of the WAAC was assigned the rank of major. WAAC first, second,and third officers served as the equivalents of captains and lieutenantsin the Regular Army, but received less pay than their male counterpartsof similar rank. For example, although the duties of a WAAC first officerwere comparable to those of a male captain, she received pay equivalentto that of a male first lieutenant. Enlisted women, referred to as "auxiliaries,"were ranked in descending order from chief leader, a position comparableto master sergeant in the Regular Army, through junior leader, comparableto corporal, and down to auxiliary, comparable to private.Although the compromise WAAC bill did not prohibit auxiliaries fromserving overseas, it failed to provide them with the overseas pay, governmentlife insurance, veterans medical coverage, and death benefits granted RegularArmy soldiers. If WAACs were captured, they had no protection under existinginternational agreements covering prisoners of war. Rogers' purpose inintroducing the WAAC bill had been to obtain pay, benefits, and protectionfor women working with the military. While she achieved some of her goals,many compromises had been necessary to get the bill onto the floor.Rogers introduced her bill in Congress in May 1941, but it failed toreceive serious consideration until after the Japanese attack on PearlHarbor in December. General Marshall's active support and congressionaltestimony helped the Rogers bill through Congress. Marshall believed thatthe two-front war in which the United States was engaged would cause aneventual manpower shortage. The Army could ill afford to spend the timeand money necessary to train men in essential service skills such as typingand switchboard operations when highly skilled women were already available.Marshall and others felt that women were inherently suited to certain criticalcommunications jobs which, while repetitious, demanded high levels of manualdexterity. They believed that men tended to become impatient with suchjobs and might make careless mistakes which could be costly during war.Congressional opposition to the bill centered around southern congressmen.With women in the armed services, one representative asked, "Who will thendo the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble homey tasks to whichevery woman has devoted herself; who will nurture the children?" Aftera long and acrimonious debate which filled ninety-eight columns in theCongressional Record, the bill finally passed the House 249 to 86.The Senate approved the bill 38 to 27 on 14 May. When President FranklinD. Roosevelt signed the bill into law the next day, he set a recruitmentgoal of 25,000 for the first year. WAAC recruiting topped that goal byNovember, at which point Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson authorized WAACenrollment at 150,000, the original ceiling set by Congress.The day the bill became law, Stimson appointed Oveta Culp Hobby as Directorof the WAAC. As chief of the Women's Interest Section in the Public RelationsBureau at the War Department, Hobby had helped shepherd the WAAC bill throughCongress. She had impressed both the media and the public when she testifiedin favor of the WAAC bill in January. In the words of the Washington TimesHerald, "Mrs. Hobby has proved that a competent, efficient woman whoworks longer days than the sun does not need to look like the popularidea of a competent, efficient woman."Prior to her arrival in Washington, Hobby had had ten years' experienceas editor of a Houston newspaper. The wife of former Texas Governor WilliamP. Hobby, Oveta Culp Hobby was well versed in national and local politics.Before her marriage she had spent five years as a parliamentarian of theTexas legislature and had written a book on parliamentary procedure.Oveta Culp Hobby was thus the perfect choice for Director of the Women'sArmy Auxiliary Corps. The position needed a woman with a proven recordof achievement. The individual selected had to be politically astute, withan understanding of how things got done in Washington and in the War Department.Most important, the Director of the WAAC had to show a skeptical Americanpublic that a woman could be "a lady" and serve as a member of the armedforces at the same time. This was crucial to the success of the WAAC. Avolunteer force, the WAAC had to appeal to small town and middle-classAmerica to recruit the skilled clerical workers, teachers, stenographers,and telephone operators needed by the Army. The values and sensibilitiesof this middle class were very narrow, as exemplified by the words of CharityAdams, a WAAC officer candidate and later lieutenant colonel: "I made aconscientious effort to obtain every item on the list of suggested suppliesfor training camp except the slacks and shorts. I had never owned either,feeling that I was not the type to wear them." In small town America in1942, ladies did not wear slacks or shorts in public.Initially, Major Hobby and the WAAC captured the fancy of press andpublic alike. William Hobby was quoted again and again when he joked, "Mywife has so many ideas, some of them have got to be good!" Hobby handledher first press conference with typical aplomb. Although the press concentratedon such frivolous questions as whether WAACs would be allowed to wear makeupand date officers, Hobby diffused most such questions with calm sensibility.Only one statement by the Director caused unfavorable comment. "Any memberof the Corps who becomes pregnant will receive an immediate discharge,"said Hobby. The Times Herald claimed that the birth rate would beadversely affected if corps members were discouraged from having babies."This will hurt us twenty years from now," said the newspaper, "when weget ready to fight the next war." Several newspapers picked up this theme,which briefly caused much debate among columnists across the nation.Oveta Culp Hobby believed very strongly in the idea behind the Women'sArmy Auxiliary Corps. Every auxiliary who enlisted in the corps would betrained in a noncombatant military job and thus "free a man for combat."In this way American women could make an individual and significant contributionto the war effort. Hobby's sincerity aided her in presenting this conceptto the public. In frequent public speeches, she explained, "The gaps ourwomen will fill are in those noncombatant jobs where women's hands andwomen's hearts fit naturally. WAACs will do the same type of work whichwomen do in civilian life. They will bear the same relation to men of theArmy that they bear to the men of the civilian organizations in which theywork." In Hobby's view, WAACs were to help the Army win the war, just aswomen had always helped men achieve success.WAAC officers and auxiliaries alike accepted and enlisted under thisphilosophy. A WAAC recruit undergoing training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia,whose husband was serving in the Pacific, wrote her friend, "The WAAC missionis the same old women's mission, to hold the home front steadfast, andsend men to battle warmed and fed and comforted; to stand by and do dullroutine work while the men are gone." Recruitment and Training Major Hobby immediately began organizing the WAAC recruiting drive andtraining centers. Fort Des Moines, Iowa, was selected as the site of thefirst WAAC training center. Applications for the WAAC officer trainingprogram were made available at Army recruiting stations on 27 May, witha return deadline of 4 June.Applicants had to be U.S. citizens between the ages of 21 and 45 withno dependents, be at least five feet tall, and weigh 100 pounds or more.Over 35,000 women from all over the country applied for less than 1,000anticipated positions.On 20 July the first officer candidate training class of 440 women starteda six-week course at Fort Des Moines. Interviews conducted by an eagerpress revealed that the average officer candidate was 25 years old, hadattended college, and was working as an office administrator, executivesecretary, or teacher. One out of every five had enlisted because a malemember of her family was in the armed forces and she wanted to help himget home sooner. Several were combat widows of Pearl Harbor and Bataan.One woman enlisted because her son, of fighting age, had been injured inan automobile accident and was unable to serve. Another joined becausethere were no men of fighting age in her family. All of the women professeda desire to aid their country in time of need by "releasing a man for combatduty."The press was asked to leave Fort Des Moines after the first day soas not to interfere with the training. Although a few reporters were disgruntledbecause they were not allowed to "follow" a candidate through basic officertraining, most left satisfied after having obtained interviews and photographsof WAACs in their new uniforms. Even the titillating question of the colorof WAAC underwear (khaki) was answered for the folks back home. Lettersthe women wrote home were often published in local newspapers.The forty black women who entered the first WAAC officer candidate classwere placed in a separate platoon. Although they attended classes and messwith the other officer candidates, post facilities such as service clubs,theaters, and beauty shops were segregated. Black officer candidates hadbackgrounds similar to those of white officer candidates. Almost 80 percenthad attended college, and the majority had work experience as teachersand office workers.In July Army recruiting centers were supplied with applications forvolunteers to enlist in the WAAC as auxiliaries (enlisted women). The response,although not as dramatic as the officer candidate applications, was stillgratifying. Those who had applied unsuccessfully for officer training andwho had stated on their applications that they would be willing to comein as auxiliaries did not have to reapply. Women were told that after theinitial group of officers had been trained, all other officer candidateswould be selected from the ranks of the auxiliaries as the corps grew.The first auxiliary class started its four-week basic training at FortDes Moines on 17 August. The average WAAC auxiliary was slightly youngerthan the officer candidates, with a high school education and less workexperience. These women enlisted for the same reasons as the officer candidates.Many with family members in the armed forces believed that the men wouldcome home sooner if women actively helped win the war and that the mostefficient way a woman could help the war effort was to free a man for combatduty.Although the first WAAC officer candidate class started its trainingbefore the enlisted class, the first enlisted WAACs entered training beforetheir future officers graduated. Consequently, the first classes of bothWAAC officer candidates and enlisted personnel were trained by male RegularArmy officers. Col. Donald C. Faith was chosen to command the center. Faith'sbackground as an educator and his interest in the psychology of militaryeducation rendered him well suited for his position.Eventually and gradually WAAC officers took over the training of therest of the corps. The majority of the newly trained WAAC officers, thefirst of whom finished their training on 29 August, were assigned to FortDes Moines to conduct basic training. As officer classes continued to graduatethroughout the fall of 1942, many were assigned to staff three new WAACtraining centers in Daytona Beach, Florida; Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; andFort Devens, Massachusetts. Others accompanied WAAC companies sent to U.S.Army field installations across the country. Black officers were assignedto black auxiliary and officer candidate units at Fort Des Moines and FortDevens. WAACs on the Job The first auxiliary units and their officers to reach the field wentto Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) units. The U.S. Army Air Forces couldnot rely on volunteer civilians to man stations twenty-four hours a day.Many AWS volunteers who fit the WAAC enlistment requirements joinedthe WAAC with the understanding that upon graduating from basic trainingthey would be assigned to duty at their local AWS station. By October 1942twenty-seven WAAC companies were active at AWS stations up and down theeastern seaboard. WAACs manned "filter boards," plotting and tracing thepaths of every aircraft in the station area. Some filter boards had asmany as twenty positions, each one filled with a WAAC wearing headphonesand enduring endless boredom while waiting for the rare telephone callsreporting aircraft sightings.Later graduates were formed into companies and sent to Army Air Forces(AAF), Army Ground Forces (AGF), or Services of Supply (renamed Army ServiceForces [ASF] in 1943) field installations. Initially most auxiliaries workedas file clerks, typists, stenographers, or motor pool drivers, but graduallyeach service discovered an increasing number of positions WAACs were capableof filling.The AAF was especially anxious to obtain WAACs, and each unit was eagerlyanticipated and very well treated. Eventually the Air Forces obtained 40percent of all WAACs in the Army. Women were assigned as weather observersand forecasters, cryptographers, radio operators and repairmen, sheet metalworkers, parachute riggers, link trainer instructors, bombsight maintenancespecialists, aerial photograph analysts, and control tower operators. Over1,000 WAACs ran the statistical control tabulating machines (the precursorsof modern-day computers) used to keep track of personnel records. By January1945 only 50 percent of AAF WACs held traditional assignments such as fileclerk, typist, and stenographer.A few AAF WAACs were assigned flying duties. Two WAAC radio operatorsassigned to Mitchel Field, New York, flew as crew members on B-17 trainingflights. WAAC mechanics and photographers also made regular flights. Threewere awarded Air Medals, including one in India for her work in mapping"the Hump," the mountainous air route overflown by pilots ferrying lend-leasesupplies to the Chinese Army. One woman died in the crash of an aerialbroadcasting plane.Army Service Forces received 40 percent of the WAACs. Some of the womenassigned to the Ordnance Department computed the velocity of bullets, measuredbomb fragments, mixed gunpowder, and loaded shells. Others worked as draftsmen,mechanics, and electricians, and some received training in ordnance engineering.Many of the 3,600 WAACs assigned to the Transportation Corps (ASF) processedmen for assignment overseas, handling personnel files and issuing weapons.In the words of one WAAC, "Soldiers come in here unarmed and leave witha gun. It gives me a pretty good feeling." WAACs served as boat dispatchersand classification specialists.Later in the war, women were trained to replace men as radio operatorson U.S. Army hospital ships. The Larkspur, the Charles A. Stafford,and the Blanche F. Sigman each received three enlisted womenand one officer near the end of 1944. This experiment proved successful,and the assignment of female secretaries and clerical workers to hospitalships occurred soon after.WAACs assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service (ASF) worked both inlaboratories and in the field. Some women were trained as glass blowersand made test tubes for the Army's chemical laboratories. Others fieldtested equipment such as walkie-talkies and surveying and meteorology instruments.The 250 WAACs assigned to the Quartermaster Corps (ASF) kept track ofstockpiles of supplies scattered in depots across the country. Their dutiesincluded inspection, procurement, stock control, storage, fiscal oversight,and contract termination.Over 1,200 WAACs assigned to the Signal Corps (ASF) worked as telephoneswitchboard operators, radio operators, telegraph operators, cryptologists,and photograph and map analysts. WAACs assigned as photographers receivedtraining in the principles of developing and printing photographs, repairingcameras, mixing emulsions, and finishing negatives. Women who became mapanalysts learned to assemble, mount, and interpret mosaic maps.WAACs within the Army Medical Department (ASF) were used as laboratory, surgical, X-ray, and dental technicians as well as medical secretaries and ward clerks, freeing Army nurses for other duties. Services of Supply WAACs assigned to the Corps of Engineers participated in the ManhattanProject. M. Sgt. Elizabeth Wilson of the Chemistry Division at Los Alamos,New Mexico, ran the cyclotron, used in fundamental experiments in connectionwith the atomic bomb. WAAC Jane Heydorn trained as an electronics constructiontechnician and, as part of the Electronic Laboratory Group at Los Alamos,was involved in the construction of the electronic equipment necessaryto develop, test, and produce the atomic bomb. WAACs at the Oak Ridge,Tennessee, site maintained the top secret files related to the project,working twelve-hour shifts seven days a week. Other WAACs involved in theManhattan Project included three women assigned to the Corps of Engineersin London, who helped to coordinate the flow of information between Englishand American scientists cooperating on the project.The Army Ground Forces were initially reluctant to request and employWAACs. The AGF eventually received 20 percent of all WAAC assignments.Many high-ranking staff officers would have preferred to see women aidthe defense effort by taking positions in industry. A report prepared bythe Plans Section, AGF, reflected this attitude: "In industry it is necessaryto train personnel in only a single operation on the production line. Militaryduties require a versatility that is acquired only by long experience."As a result, WAACs assigned to Army Ground Forces often felt unwelcomeand complained of the intensive discipline imposed upon them. Most AGFWAACs worked in training centers where 75 percent performed routine officework. Another 10 percent worked in motor pools. AGF WAACs found that chancesfor transfer and promotion were extremely limited, and many women servedthroughout the war at the posts to which they were initially assigned.The stories of Ground Forces WAACs contrasted sharply with those of womenassigned to the Air and Service Forces, who were routinely sent to specialistschools and often transferred between stations.Women's Army Corps members served worldwide-in North Africa, the Mediterranean,Europe, the Southwest Pacific, China, India, Burma, and the Middle East.Overseas assignments were highly coveted, even though the vast majorityconsisted of the clerical and communications jobs at which women were believedto be most efficient. Only the most highly qualified women received overseasassignments. Some women turned down the chance to attend Officer CandidateSchool in favor of an overseas assignment.The invasion of North Africa was only five days old when, on 13 November1942, Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower asked that five WAAC officers, twoof whom could speak French, be sent immediately to Allied Force Headquartersto serve as executive secretaries. The ship carrying Third Officers MarthaRogers, Mattie Pinette, Ruth Briggs, Alene Drezmal, and Louise Andersonwas torpedoed en route from Great Britain to Algiers. A British destroyerplucked two of the women from the burning deck of their sinking ship. Theother three escaped in a lifeboat. While adrift on the high seas, theysaved several seamen by pulling them into the boat with them. Picked upby a destroyer, they were delivered to Algiers with no uniforms, clothing,or supplies. The women were greeted by anxious officers with gifts of orangesand toiletries.These five women served on General Eisenhower's staff successively throughoutthe North African, Mediterranean, and European campaigns. In 1945 Eisenhowerstated, "During the time I have had WACs under my command they have metevery test and task assigned to them . . . their contributions in efficiency,skill, spirit and determination are immeasurable."The first WAAC unit overseas, the 149th Post Headquarters Company, reportedon 27 January 1943 to General Eisenhower's headquarters in Algiers. Initiallyunit members were housed in the dormitory of a convent school and transportedto and from the headquarters in trucks. They served as postal workers,clerks, typists, and switchboard operators. Nightly bombings and accompanyingantiaircraft fire made sleep difficult for the first few weeks, but mostof the women acclimated fairly quickly. Additional WAAC postal workersjoined them in May. A WAAC signal company arrived in November to take jobsas high-speed radio operators, teletypists, cryptographic code clerks,and tape cutters in radio rooms. Corps members assigned to the Army AirForces arrived in North Africa in November 1943 and January 1944.One of the most famous WAAC/WAC units to serve in the North Africanand Mediterranean theaters was the 6669th Headquarters Platoon, assignedto Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army. This unit became the Army's "experiment"in the use of female units in the field. The 6669th accompanied Fifth Armyheadquarters from Mostaganem, Algeria, across the Mediterranean to Naplesand eventually all the way up the boot of Italy. Unit members remainedfrom six to thirteen miles behind the front lines, moved with the headquartersgroup, and worked in traditional female skills. The unit's table of organizationcalled for 10 telephone operators, 7 clerks, 16 clerk-typists, 10 stenographers,and 1 administrative clerk. Even so, these jobs had a vastly differentflavor from traditional employment in the United States. WAAC telephoneoperators were required to get through extremely complicated communicationsnetworks to reach within minutes the commanding officer of any unit soughtby General Clark. Clerk-typists plotted the locations and movements ofthe troops and requisitioned and tracked the delivery of crucial supplies.Clark and his staff treated the WAACs as valued members of the Fifth Armyteam, and the women responded by submitting to the hardships associatedwith forward troop movements with little complaint.The WAACs' success in the North