We’ve Come A Long Way Baby, Or Have We?
The following is a newspaper article I found in my mother’s things. It was printed in the Des Moines, IA, newspaper on Wednesday, May 27, 1942.
““First Women in the WAAC Will Take Orders From Men”
After the Trainees Have Acquired Sufficient Skill, They Themselves Will Be Ready to Handle New Groups of Recruits.
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(By the Associated Press.)
Des Moines, IA., May 26.- The men will give them orders – and there will be no backtalk from the women – when the women’s auxiliary army corps begins drills on the spacious parade ground of Ft. Des Moines after July 15.
That’s the date the original contingent of 450 members of the WAAC’s is scheduled to reach here.
The first WAAC officials (masculine) said upon arriving here today that the training school’s faculty and staff will consist of forty-one officers and 191 enlisted men.
The WAAC will be officered by men, it was disclosed, until the feminine candidates have acquired sufficient knowledge of the “forward march” and “eyes right” procedure to take over at least part of the supervisory authority themselves.
By September 15 it is expected that the qualified original candidates will be ready to handle the officers’ duties. The new batches of recruits are scheduled to arrive in allotments of about 350 on that date and every two weeks thereafter.
The WAAC will provide personnel in the army for administrative positions and for such specialties as aircraft warning and other technical services.
WAAC faculty members now here include Lieut. Col. Francis Egan, the post quartermaster: Maj. William B. Houseal, the training school secretary, and Capt. Gordon C. Jones, who will direct plans and training. Capt. D. C. Faith will be commandant.
The army’s induction center, which has been in operation at Ft. Des Moines about a year and which has sent thousands of Iowans into service, is preparing to move to Camp Dodge.
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New York, May 26 – Hard-bitten noncoms reeled a bit today when dozens of blondes, assorted brunettes, and eager redheads stormed into the army recruiting office, demanding to be signed up for the new woman’s auxiliary army corps.
Enlistment of officer candidates for the WAAC wasn’t supposed to begin until tomorrow, but the recruiting sergeants recovered and handed out application blanks.
Meanwhile Mrs. Carmel Snow, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, told members of the American Women’s Voluntary services at a luncheon today that they must regard their uniforms not “as a new fashion, but as a badge of honor and symbol of responsibility.”
“Every time I see a woman in uniform in a bar in late afternoon, ordering a second cocktail, I feel a wave of criticism,” Mrs. Snow said, Of course, we must all have relaxation, but there’s always time to change into proper dress.
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Women Must Leave Service to Have Babies
(By the Associated Press)
Washington, May 26 – Recruiting will start tomorrow for women who want to be officers in the Women’s Army Auxiliary corps but the army warned married candidates that the WAAC was no place for babies.
Regulations specify that a married member who is going to have a baby will have to leave the service, although she will be eligible for re-enlistment after the child is born.
An honorable but mandatory discharge will be granted as soon as the approaching motherhood is certified by a medical officer. To re-enlist, the mother will be required to meet the same qualifications specified for her original enlistment. If a vacancy exists, her commanding officer may reassign her to the same position and rank she held before.”
My own mother was a Morse Code operator in the WAACs when she met and married my father. When she became pregnant, she was discharged. During this period and for decades after WWII, many companies did not allow women to work after they started showing. As we know it’s 2021, and the times have changed.
Then why is it that in March, Women’s History Month, of 2021 is there banter regarding a woman’s role in the armed services? “So, we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits,” Carlson said on his show. “Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military.”
As the daughter of a career Air Force member, I know it took a long time and decades of change for women to reach the rank and level of responsibility we see today. Gender should not limit reaching one’ full potential. Excellence doesn’t know Y or X chromosomes.
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