WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS~B.W.S.G.

The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the US Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps the 14 may 1942, and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943. Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby, at the time a lawyer, a newspaper research editor and the wife of a prominent Texas politician.[1][2] About 150,000 American women served in the WAAC and WAC during World War II. They were the first women other than nurses to serve with the Army. While conservative opinion in the leadership of the Army and public opinion generally was initially opposed to women serving in uniform, the shortage of men necessitated a new policy. While most women served stateside, some went to various places around the World, including Europe, North Africa and New Guinea. For an example WACs landed on Normandy Beach just a few weeks after the initial invasion.[3] Some men feared that if women became soldiers they would no longer serve in a masculine preserve and their masculinity would be devalued.[4] Others feared being sent into combat units if women took over the safe jobs.[5] General Douglas MacArthur called the WACs "my best soldiers", adding that they worked harder, complained less, and were better disciplined than men.[6] Many generals wanted more of them and proposed to draft women but it was realised that this "would provoke considerable public outcry and Congressional opposition" and the War Department declined to take such a drastic step.[7] Those 150,000 women that did serve released the equivalent of 7 divisions of men for combat. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable".[8] During the same time period, other branches of the U.S. military had similar women's units, including the Navy WAVES, the SPARS of the Coast Guard and the (civil) Women Airforce Service Pilots. The British Armed Forces also had similar units, including the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. The WAC was disbanded in 1978. Since then, women in the U.S. Army have served in the same units as men, though they have only been allowed in or near combat situations since 1994 when Defense Secretary Les Aspin ordered the removal of "substantial risk of capture" from the list of grounds for excluding women from certain military units. FROM WIKIPEDIA

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