Women's Army Auxiliary Corps: Digging Deeper (Adrienne Mitchel)

     The textbook briefly touches on Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), but doesn’t go into much depth. I decided to research more about the WAAC and share with you some of my findings:

     In 1941, Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers informed the Army’s Chief of Staff General George C. Marshal that she planned on introducing a bill to create an Army women’s corps, which would differ from the existing Army Nurse Corps. Rogers’ motivation for the creation of an Army women’s corps was that during World War II when female civilians had worked overseas with the Army under contract and as volunteers, they were given no benefit of official status. This meant they had to obtain their own food and shelter, were given no legal protection or medical care, and when they returned home, they weren’t given disability benefits or pensions. Therefore, Rogers’ ultimate goal was to give women serving in World War II the same legal protection and benefits as their male counterparts.

     In May 1941, Rogers introduced her bill in Congress, yet only until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December did her bill receive serious consideration. The final bill established the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942. This bill made it so the Army would provide up to 150,000 enlisted women, called auxiliaries, with food, uniforms, living quarters, pay, and medical care. Although women officers wouldn’t be allowed to command men, the director of WAAC was assigned the rank of major and the WAAC first, second, and third officers served as the equivalents of captains and lieutenants. However, these officers received less pay than their male counterparts of similar rank, and auxiliaries were not given overseas pay, government life insurance, veterans medical coverage, death benefits, or prisoner of war protection.

     Even still, over 35,000 women from all over the United States applied for less than a thousand anticipated positions. In order to apply, women had to be between ages 21 and 45, at least five feet tall, and weigh 100 pound or more. The average officer candidate was 25 years old and attended college. One out of every five women had enlisted because they wanted to end the war as quick as possible in order to bring a male member of their family home faster.

     The creation of WAAC was just the beginning for incorporating women into the military. Currently there are more than 200,000 women serving in active-duty military, and it is estimated that by 2020, 11% of the total veteran population will be women.