Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Anniversary
MCPO Ret. in TN reminds us that today is the 72d anniversary of the birth of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps says the Army;
In May 1941, the Honorable Edith Nourse Rogers, Congresswoman from Massachusetts, introduced a bill for the creation of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). Spurred on by the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, Congress approved the creation of the WAAC on May 14, 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law on May 15, and on May 16 Oveta Culp Hobby was sworn in as the first Director.
Says the Center for Military History of women’s service in World War II;
Over 150,000 American women served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War 11. 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 materiel for that war 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. 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.
Category: Military issues
When I enlisted (1976) I bumped into many women that still wore the Pallas Athena as their branch insignia.
Comrades in Arms:
Here is a newspaper report from the “FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER” in Fayetteville, North Carolina about my stepmother, Alma Capps Mallernee, who was the one hundred and fourth (104) person to enlist in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, which later became the Women’s Army Corps.
http://writesong.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-stepmother-alma-capps-mallernee.html
When I was a soldier in the United States Army, us guys had a special cadence we used when marching in formation past a WAC barracks (which was surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by Military Police), but only if there were no officers present to spoil our fun.
It was a variation of a regular Army marching cadence, “COUNT CADENCE, DELAYED CADENCE, COUNT!”
The normal cadence was:
Command: “Count Cadence, delayed cadence, count cadence, COUNT!”
Troops: “One!” (Followed by silence for four steps, with loud stomp on fourth step.)
Leader: “Can’t hear you.”
Troops: “Two!”
Leader: “A little louder now.”
Troops: “Three!”
Leader: “Sound off now.”
Troops: “Four!”
Leader: “Pick it up, now.”
Interval Between Steps Shortens.
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
“Four!”
Interval Between Steps Shortens More.
Boots stomp hard on step Four.
“One!”, “Two!”, “Three!”, “Four!”
Rapidly, boots stomping on each step.
“One!”, “Two!”, “Three!”, “Four!”
“One!”, “Two!”, “Three!”, “Four!”
Grrrrr-ROOOWLLL!!!
The WAC cadence went like this (but only if no officers were around):
Command: “Count Cadence, delayed cadence, WAC cadence, COUNT!”
Troops (in a high pitched voice): “One!” (Followed by silence for four steps, with loud stomp on fourth step.)
Leader: “Can’t hear you.”
Troops: “Two!”
Leader: “A little louder now.”
Troops: “Three!”
Leader: “Sound off now.”
Troops: “Four!”
Leader: “Pick it up, now.”
Interval Between Steps Shortens.
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
“Four!”
Interval Between Steps Shortens More.
Boots stomp hard on step Four.
“One!”, “Two!”, “Three!”, “Four!”
Rapidly.
“One!”, “Two!”, “Three!”, “Four!”
“One!”, “Two!”, “Three!”, “Four!”
“Wheeeeeee!”
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
Why isn’t this thing working?
I’ll try again.
I just finished updating my personal web site, “OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE”, with a new post about today’s historic anniversary, plus reposting the newspaper report about my stepmother, Alma Capps Mallernee, who was the 104th volunteer to join the newly formed WAAC.
To view my web site, you can just click on my name.