This would drop the "auxiliary" status of the WAAC and allow women to serve overseas and "free a man to fight."
Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced identical bills in both houses of Congress to permit the enlistment and commissioning of women in the Army of the United States, or Reserve forces, as opposed to regular enlistments in the U.S. Conversion to Army status, Women's Army Corps (WAC) Higher paying jobs in civilian industry, unequal benefits with men, and attitudes within the Army itself - which had existed as an overwhelmingly male institution from the beginning - were factors. In the beginning, WAAC exceeded all its recruiting goals, but by June 1943, recruiting efforts had fallen. If they were killed, their parents could not collect the death gratuity. However, women could not receive overseas pay and were ineligible for government life insurance. Stateside, enlisted women and men received the same basic rate of pay. Since to the WAAC law did not women an integral part of the Army, they could not be governed by Army regulations or the Articles of War. Within one year of the WAAC establishment, over 400 jobs were open to women. Women primarily worked in four fields: baking, clerical, driving and medical. After OCS, black officers and white officers were segregated.Īfter training, the WAAC officer or enlisted person was assigned to a 150-woman table of organization company, which only had spaces for clerks, typists, drivers, cooks and unit cadre. Their arrival and subsequent training brought considerable public interest surrounding civil rights, as this corps presented the biggest opportunity to test integration in the Army.
Among them were 125 enlisted women and 440 officer candidates (40 of whom were black), who had been selected to attend the WAAC Officer Candidate School, or OCS. The first women arrived at the first WAAC Training Center at Fort Des Moines on July 20, 1942. Over 35,000 women from all over the country applied for less than 1,000 anticipated positions. Fort Des Moines, Iowa, was selected as the site of the first WAAC Training Center. Hobby immediately began organizing the WAAC recruiting drive and training centers.
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