The
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created
in May 1942. The initial assignment of the
WAACs was to serve at Aircraft Warning Service
(AWS) stations. see WAAC.
In
the spring of 1943, WAACs became the Women's
Army Corps (WAC);
Over
150,000 American women served in the Women's
Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Members
of the WAC were the first women other than
nurses to serve within the ranks of the United
States Army.
Both
the Army and the American public initially
had difficulty accepting the concept of women
in uniform.
However,
political and military leaders, faced with
fighting a two-front war and supplying men
and material, while continuing to send lend-lease
material to the Allies, realized that women
could supply the additional resources so desperately
needed in the military and industrial sectors.
Some
commanders were relucant to accept women into
their units, but by mid-1943 the demand for
them far exceeded the numbers available.
Given
the opportunity to make a major contribution
to the national war effort, women seized it.
By the end of the war their contributions
would be widely heralded.
For
more on the WAC, click here.
WAC
Posters
Poster
Index