WWII+Research+and+Symposium+KSEP


 * __Secondary Source Facts__**
 * 1) WACs was established on May 14, 1942
 * 2) It was the female component of the U.S. army until 1978
 * 3) Representative Edith Nourse Rogers introduced the corps
 * 4) Oveta Culp Hobby was made director along with the rank of major (later colonel) until July 1945
 * 5) 140,000 women served as WACs members. 17,000 of them were abroad
 * 6) In 1942, all branches of the military integrated in the women’s favor
 * 1,000 female pilots flew U.S. planes out of American air force bases
 * 1) Women either served in the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), founded by Nancy Harkness Love in September of 1942, or the Women’s Air force Service Pilots (WASPS), founded by Jacqueline Cochron.
 * 2) General Henry Arnold, chief of the Air Corps, ordered the two organizations to combine
 * 3) WASPS flew military aircrafts from factories to bases, tested and repaired airplanes, towed the targets male students aimed for, and taught the male students flight and gunnery
 * 4) 38 women died before performing their duties
 * 5) Six million women worked in defense plants and in offices
 * 6) At the General Motors plant in Rochester, NY, women made generators for wartime use


 * __Primary Sources__**

"Stripped of frills, the WAACS will offer good, steady jobs for qualified women willing to enlist for the duration. Pay will start at $21 a month, over and above room, board and uniform. Both single and married women will be eligible for the corps, though there is no assurance that the wife of a soldier would be able to work at the camp where her husband is stationed."

This is an excerpt from the newspaper article WAAC, Something New to the Army. This excerpt shows what the WAAC has to offer to women in America. Women needed to be convinced to leave their normal lives. They were used to being house wives and staying home with the kids, but now they were leaving their comfort zones. The article later explains the age limits of the WAAC and the way the WAAC recruits their women. All members are volunteers and all the women in this branch of the military want to be in the WAAC to do their part to help the war effort.

"The House Military Affairs Committee yesterday voted in favor of American women taking over such noncombat army duties ad the War Department shall authorize, by approving unanimously the bill introduced by Representative Edith Nourse Rogers (Republican), of Massachusetts, to create a Womans Army Auxiliary Corps."

This is an excerpt from the newspaper article Army Service For Women Gets Approval. This excerpt shows how the HMAC allowed women to create the WAAC. The rest of the article explains what the duties of the WAAC were going to be and what the wages were going to be set at. The wages were set at $21 a month. This money earned went to supporting the house and going to help support the war effort. Women took their spare cash and bought objects like war bonds.

"The letters are coming to Mrs. Rogers because she, with approval of the War Department, introduced the bill to create a Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps. It has been approved by the Military Affairs Committee and is expected to come before the House for a vote tomorrow. Mrs. Rogers has expressed the belief that it will pass."

This is an excerpt from the newspaper article Many Women Seek Army Corps Jobs. This excerpt shows what channels a bill had to go through to have the WAAC approved. The bill had to start by getting approved by Mrs. Rogers and the War Department. Afterwards, it had to be approved by the Military Affairs Committee. Mrs. Rogers believed the bill would be aprroved all along. This all became a problem because thousands of women wanted to join the army and the army did not allow women to join.