Source: Facts You Want to Know About the WAC (1944)
After I did my previous post on WAC uniforms, a reader asked about the types of work that WACs did. Well, here’s the answer. According to a 1944 recruiting brochure:
The WACS . . . They do 155 important Army jobs
Already the WACS are doing 155 vital Army jobs. Some of these jobs are arduous. Some may seem routine. But every one of these jobs is essential to winning this war.
Thousands more women are needed in the WAC to take over these jobs. Women with special skills and business experience are needed. Women who have had no special training, who have never worked before, are needed too. The WAC will train them for Army jobs. And many of the skills they learn will prove valuable after the war—in a career, or in running a home.
Source of pictures: Facts You Want to Know About the WAC (1944)
Did Aunt Marian like the way she looked in her WAC uniform? According to a recruiting brochure, during World War II WACs received clothing that would have cost about $250 retail.
… hit upon the idea of a head of Pallas Athene, a Roman and Greek Goddess associated with an impressive variety of womanly virtues…She was the goddess of handicrafts, wise in industries of peace and arts of war, also the goddess of storms and battle, who led through victory to peace and prosperity. Accordingly, the head of Pallas Athene, together with the traditional US, was selected for lapel insignia, cut out for officers and on discs for enlisted women.
An old WAC songbook of Aunt Marian’s was one piece of memorabilia that I found. Some of the songs were traditional patriotic songs like the Star Spangled Banner and America, the Beautiful. Others were fun songs like The K.P.’s Are Scrubbing Away (WAC Version):
I found a wide variety of articles and memorabilia that once belonged to Aunt Marian in my parent’s attic. One of the more mysterious items is a box overflowing with miscellaneous military badges. Many appear to be used—a few look new.
How (and why) did Aunt Marian assemble this collection of badges? Did people trade badges?
One thought, but it may be totally off base (no pun intended)–Aunt Marian was stationed at Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula in California in the mid-1950s, and worked for awhile at the Quartermasters Sales Store. Could she have somehow gotten the badges off used uniforms that one way or another ended up the store?
Aunt Marian did many different things during her 19+ years in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs). I’m still researching what many of them were, but I do know one thing that she did—she worked in a commissary. Amongst the memorabilia of Aunt Marian’s that I found was this newspaper clipping from January 27, 1956.
The clipping shows Aunt Marian working at the Fort Ord (Monterey Bay, California) Quartermasters Sales Store. Aunt Marian’s handwritten note says:
My boss had me do this. The other girl was not on duty. I have on a green sales jacket.
Here’s another page from the booklet that the Miller Brother Company department store in Chattanooga, Tennessee gave new WACs who were in basic training at nearby Fort Oglethorpe.
Homesick young WAC enlistees probably bought lots of photos to send to family and friends. I bet they wanted everyone back home to see how lovely they looked in their uniforms, and with their haircuts for new Wartime careers.
But, did Aunt Marian visit the Portrait Studio? She was 45-years old and her parents were gone.
Marian Solomon's midlife transition from the farm to the Women's Army Corps (WACs)
My Aunt the WAC 