This paper is part of the Student Researcher Series which showcases research students have conducted using resources in the Student Life and Culture Archives. If you’re a student who is interested in sharing your research on our blog, please contact us.
Rebecca Purcell is an undergraduate history student at the University of Illinois. This paper was written for History 498:Research and Writing Seminar taught by Professor Leslie Reagan. Rebecca presented her research at the Ethnography of the University Initiative Conference in December 2015.
We often think of women during wartime as someone who the men fighting send letters to. We see them as loved ones, care givers, and providers of those fighting overseas. During World War II women’s roles began to transform into something that did not follow the norms of society set for them in prior wars. Women now had their own divisions of service to sign up for. They had the choice like most men of working under the Airforce, Army, Navy, and the National Guard. Women during World War II played an important role in showing not only how women took on more active roles than they had in previous wars, but also how universities such as U of I became centers where women were able to discover who they wanted to become when it came to war time efforts. These women pushed past restrictions placed on them by men, and proved that they were willing and able to fight for their country just like any man. These women represent not only change, but hope in a future where they could become more than just housewives, but equals to men. Looking at different accounts from the time and prior we can see through their stories and struggles the changes that began to occur after WWII in relation to women. This paper is meant to prove just how significant these women truly were for both the University of Illinois, as well as across the nation making an impact on the U.S., and its military.
During WWI other countries were taking action to ensure that their nations would not crumble when it came to their military strength. They wanted to be prepared for the possibility that their men would all fall in battle. Countries such as Russia, Japan, Germany, England, and many others were preparing for a total war. This preparation began prior to WWI, and grew strong as the war progressed. “For over a decade the women of Germany, Italy, and Japan have been training for war. Their duties range from front line combat to manual labor.”[1] Russia seemed to be the country that allowed women to be involved in more ways than other countries. Russia allowed women to serve as sharpshooters, dig trenches, and carry ammunition on their backs to troops in the line of fire.[2] Countries around the world besides the U.S. at this point allowed women to be involved in military activities. “The British, whose war effort was more nearly total, had already established women’s auxiliaries in several of their services, and there was considerable evidence that had the war lasted a few months longer the United States might have done like wise.”[3] Women’s involvement in the military may have been different in WWII if this would have happened. However, there was one way that women were allowed to be involved in military efforts in WWI.
The common belief from citizens both prior and during WWI was that a, “women’s place was in the home.”[4] Looking at how other countries were becoming dominant in women’s involvement in the military, the U.S. began to look at ways to improve women’s involvement in the U.S. However, there was one obstacle that had to be overcome, and that was how men felt about women’s involvement in the military. It was noted by Army psychiatrists of the time that, “in order for women to gain an active participation in military activities it was necessary for man to change his basic concept of the feminine role, to overcome his fear of ‘women generals.’”[5] Even though the United States did not have their own women’s auxiliary programs like other countries, and the approval rate for women to become involved in military was low. The United States did however, take an important step to boost moral, and make it acceptable for women to be involved in the military though creating the Army Nurse Corps. “In placing nurses in a militarized and uniformed corps, the nation had taken one long step toward admission of women to full membership in the armed forces.” Army Nurses were more than just nurses, they were groundbreakers in the movement necessary for women to be in the admitted into the military. Sadly full admittance would not come until much later, however, Army Nurses played an important role for women in the U.S. until the year 1942.
The University of Illinois being the major military school that it was during both WWI and WWII was involved in the Army Nurse Program. In an article published in the Daily Illini, January 13th, 1918 promotes women joining the military through the Army Nurse Program. It was viewed as “one of the best of professions offered to young women.”[6] There was however some restrictions, and requirements for Army Nurses who were either enlisting, or considering becoming an Army Nurse. “They need not only physiology, physics, history, but an absolute faith in humanity and in their God, that, when the first glamour of the task is worn off, and the days and nights follow each other with little rest, and scenes of bloodshed fairly drives one insane, they will still be allaying suffering of both body and mind.”[7] These women were expected to be at the least college educated, and to enter nursing schools. Once they finished the amount of schooling necessary for them to take the places of experienced nurses they were allowed to enter the military as a trained nurse.[8] Universities like the University of Illinois suggested for women to take specific course when gaining their undergraduate degree. They would also reward those students by giving nursing credit to them, if they had taken the courses that were suggested for nurses to take.[9]
Even though the Army Nurse program was established in WWI, and women were able to enlist in the military as Army Nurses. It was not until 1942 that the United States would initialize a plan for women to be allowed to join their own divisions of the military. To get to that point in 1942 would take years of patience and hard work to build the WAC. There was many steps that took place to get to that point, and it all began not that long after WWI. The first steps in this long process began in 1928 with the Hughes Plan. Male planners of war had a very difficult time planning for a women’s corps, because it was difficult for men to view women as capable of joining the military. Following along with male views at the Army War College men were being taught a course titled, “Conservation by Utilization of Women in Industry, in Military Service, and in Welfare Work.”[10] This course was meant to show men the roles women were playing in wartime efforts, and how important their work was for the county. Women were allowed to be involved in the war efforts in ways the country deemed approvable. One of these ways was for women to take the places of men in factories. For women to take these positions in society men of the United States deemed these positions honorable for women. Which, was why it was such a difficult task for men to view women as future members of the military. This perception of women was common in WWI, women were not only Army Nurses, but they also worked in factories, and replaced men in jobs they once filled when they went off to war. It was not until Major Hughes proposed a new thought around 1928 the, “acceptance of the fact that women would inevitably play a part in the next war—the more nearly total the war, the greater the part.”[11] The Hughes Plan however did not involve initiating women into the military instantly. What it did was, “contemplated that only women overseas or in danger zones would be militarized.”[12] Women on the home front however, would be trained for the possibility of entering a combat zone, they would not be allowed to enter that combat zone until the next war was known. It was then decided under the Hughes Plan that these women, “must be trained nor merely in drill but in an understanding of Army thinking, a process that could not be achieved overnight.”[13] Major Hughes viewed this plan as doing the right thing for women by allowing them the right to get involved in military efforts during wartime. The Secretary of War however felt a very differently about this plan, and it was in a way pushed under the rug, and forgot about almost entirely. This can be seen by the fact that years after this plan was introduced there was still no efforts in putting this plan into motion. When 1931 came around, only three years after the Hughes Plan had been introduced, there had still been no word about women joining the military. It also was perceived at the time that no one seemed to be willing to do anything to put the Hughes Plan in action, thus ultimately ending the peacetime planning for a women’s corps.[14]
The Hughes Plan may not have been passed as quickly as people would have hoped. However, it may have been the light that was needed to get the fire burning for the United States to have a women’s corps. In 1939 just eight years after all hopes, and dreams of having a branch for women in the military was put to a stop General George C. Marshall, “was appointed Chief of Staff, and a month later was planning for a women’s corps.”[15] The Civilian Conservation Corps began working on how to create a women’s corps. However, they must not have been aware of any plans discussed previously, such as the Hughes Plan due to the fact that it was a completely different plan than what was brought up in 1928. The new idea that the CCC created for these women restricted them, just like in their everyday lives. The plan stated that, “The CCC has shown how persons may be grouped in units with a military form of organization, uniformed, given grades of rank, paid and cared for, employed under orders of Army Officials, administered by the Army’s chain of command, and governed by War Department Regulations, without being members of the Army.”[16] The catch to this plan lies at the end, women were not allowed to be given full military status, they were considered members of the Army, but by no means were they to be considered at the same level as men fighting over seas. It was decided that these women’s jobs would be, “hostesses, librarians, canteen clerks, cooks and waitresses, chauffeurs, messengers, and strolling minstrels.”[17] The War Department however, could not make an executive decision about allowing women to be members of the military. Gen. Marshall wrote a letter to an inquire stating how the United States has the manpower they need, unlike other counties like England who have had to rely on their women to fill the ranks that men no longer can. He also went on to say about women and the war rising that, “we must plan for every possible contingency, and certainly must provide some outlet for the patriotic desires of our women.”[18] Yet the plan that was created would in no way prepare women for every possible contingency, since they would not be trained the same way as a man, and would not hold the same positions. When 1941 rolled around the Senate and the House was able to build support for the Rodgers Bill, which supported women joining the military. After support from both Congress, and the first lady herself Eleanor Roosevelt, and after much debate and deliberation from both Congress, and the War Department it was decided that the WAAC (WAC), Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps should and will be formed.
One woman was leading the efforts and establishing the programs basics. This woman was Republican Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers (Mass.).[19] Through her efforts the Act to establish the WAAC (WAC) passed with Congress, and the legislation was completed on May 14th, 1942. The following day, “President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order, authorizing its establishment.”[20] It was stated in the Act that the terms of service for any woman shall be one year. “In times of war or emergency the Secretary of war may extend the term to include the period of war or emergency, plus not to exceed six months.”[21] The Act also set rules for enrollment and discharges for women who joined the WAAC. The first of these was an age restriction, which stated that women between the ages of 21 to 44 were allowed to enlist. “They must also be physically fit, of good character, and with the ability to learn.”[22] Payment to the women who were enlisted was significantly less than that of enlisted men. The reason for this being that these women would not fight in combat, meaning their pay should be considerably less.[23] The WAAC was allowed to have 150,000 women recruited and working in their units of 150 members. They never reached full capacity, it is said that, 100,000 women at one point served the WAC at its peak during WWII.[24] The WAC whose name changed from the WAAC to the WAC after it was converted to a full status of the military.[25] The WAC proved to be extremely affective, and continued to enlist women until it was disbanded in 1978 when women integrated into units with men.
Women who served in the military were not always treated the way that we would expect them to be today. We may never know what these women were truly feeling or even thinking. However, due to one woman we can catch a glimpse of what we can only assume is what all women went through who served in WWII. Aileen Kilgore Henderson was a member of the WAC from 1944 until her discharge in December of 1945. Through her accounts from that year we are able to get a glimpse of what it truly meant to be a stateside soldier. Henderson, who was known at the time as Corporal Kilgore, which was her rank in the WAC. Realized that through joining the WAC it would enable her to make a contribution to the war effort, while also receiving some much needed financial compensation.[26] She describes how afraid she was to bring up to her family, and even her friends that she was interested in joining the WACs. It was not until she ran into one of her sister’s old boyfriends who was in the Air Corps that she realized that joining the WACs may not be as unimportant as she thought. He told her when she asked about the WACs that, “The WACs I’ve worked with are doing a good job. If joining is what you feel is right for you, go ahead.”[27] She then had the courage and strength she needed to tell her family and friends about her new journey, and soon realized that “life in the military during wartime was a unique experience for a woman.”[28]
On January 26th, 1944 Kilgore’s journey began and the one question she had on her mind was what joining the WACs would do to her reputation. She had this to say on her first day, “I can hardly wait, yet I’m scared to death. Am I getting into something that will transform me into a monster?”[29] Yet one thing kept her going, her parents support for her joining the Army. More than anything her mother who was more supportive than her father, saying that, “she’d do the same if she were young and single.”[30] Her first days her fear was wavering as to what she was getting herself into, yet one thing is clear throughout her diary entries, she is more excited than afraid. She was twenty-tree years old leaving her family for the first time, yet the future did not seem bleak. On February 2nd her entire world changed, she was now officially Private Kilgore, and soon to be Corporal Kilgore. Nearly a month after her enlistment she wrote to her parents saying, “I like the Army better as the days go by but many are turning against it now. They gripe constantly.”[31] As days went by Kilgore became a true lover of Army life, and could not imagine being a civilian. She dreaded the day she graduated, and would have to leave the life she had fell in love with behind. As days went by there was more and more things that kept changing for Kilgore; more rules, more restrictions, and even more realizations about herself as a person. After a couple of months she learned that, “if you keep a diary while in the military service it has to be censored.”[32] This then began to make her question if the letters she was writing to her parents, and loved ones were censored. We her parents seeing the same things that she was writing, and was the Army trying controlling the most private part of her life. Even with these questions and concerns, she still never lost faith in what the WAC was about, and if she was doing the right thing.
Kilgore saw everything that you would expect to see being a woman in the military, and one thing she saw that we knew was taking place in the real world was men’s disapproval of the WACs. Kilgore noted how women just like her were receiving letters from their boyfriends of years to not write letters to them anymore.[33] The reason for this can be assumed that service men, were supportive of women joining the WAC, as long as it was not their women. One woman who was married, and whose husband was based in Italy, told her he was divorcing her because she joined the WAC.[34] The most moving account written by Kilgore comes from her letter written to her parents on “D” Day, June 7th 1944. She not only learned her cousin was killed in action, and the regret she felt in her heart for her family and loved ones dying in combat, when she herself was not allowed to fight. She still never lost faith in the cause she was fighting for, but the role she was playing began to seem less important. Not long after she became a Corporal she was discharged on December 7th, 1945. She was disappointed, and uncertain about what her future would be like. Kilgore no longer knew what it was like to live as a civilian, and it scared her, “more than joining the military to go back to normal life.”[35] She truly experienced everything a woman in the military could, basic training, assignments, but never combat. The U.S. never got to a point in WWII where they needed to fully enlist women in the military, which was a disappointment to the women who served in more ways than one.
“The University of Illinois WATC- Women’s Auxiliary Training Corps—was the nation’s first to be based on the Army WAC program.”[36] That statement itself says a lot about the pride and honor our university had when it came to being involved as heavily as they were with women’s newfound involvement in the military. There was two ways that the University of Illinois was involved. They were the first to establish a WATC program under the WAC, setting an example for other universities to follow. The second way that U of I was involved was by being a major recruitment center for the WAC, WAVES, WASP, and SPARS. Looking at the WATC program, more specifically on the University of Illinois campus, its importance can be seen by looking at the effort that took place behind the scenes to get this program started. Joe Wright stated that the, “War Effort- Newest war activity at the University of Illinois is the Women’s Auxiliary Training Corps, an as-yet unofficial branch of the university military department to prepare co-eds for the WAAC as the ROTC prepares men students for the Army. Miss Maria Leonard, dean of women, one of the sponsors of WATC, inspects the cadette uniform on Marie Eeron, 1721, Carmen Avenue, Chicago.”[37] The University of Illinois could be viewed as being proud of the WATC program they found, due to the headgear they created for its members to wear. “Prominent on WATC headgear is the orange block “I” of Illinois, with the initials “WATC across it.”[38]
The Daily Illini accounts show the many ways that recruitment took place on its campus. On March 18th 1942, the first article about the WAC was published providing a local account for students of the university to view. This article provided information to female students about how they could enlist, and what roles they would be able to take part in when it came to military life. Not a year later, the Daily Illini published an article about how the University of Illinois was establishing the WATC program. It was stated that, “women students who will complete their courses within a year and are 21 years old are eligible for the WAAC reserve statues.”[39] These course needed to be eligible were now being offered at the University of Illinois, giving its female students more of a chance to be successful in the WAC. Which was why the University is seeking official status for the local WATC unit. In effect, a women’s ROTC is being sought.”[40] 1943 was a big year for the University of Illinois the WATC program began, and recruitment began to boom for other divisions besides the WAC.
The University of Illinois was such an important recruitment spot for women that in 1944 they sought recruits for confidential work. It was not stated what this opportunity was however, they need to have, “a high I.Q. and a record of loyalty to the United States.”[41] This was such a secret that they would not allow the test to take place on our campus. “The applicant will be sent to Chicago shortly for an interview with a signal corps officer. A mental test and through examination of character and family history will follow.”[42] Only 100 women were chosen for this secret mission, in the 6th service command, and will be sent to Arlington hall in Washington D.C. for basic training. Sadly not all the accounts provided in the Daily Illini about the WASP, WAC, WAVES, and SPARS can be as spectacular as in early years. When the war was reaching its end, these programs began to fall apart. The WATC division founded at the University of Illinois had been canceled in 1944 due to “lack of interest.”[43] A reporter at the Daily Illini wrote about why there was no WATC division on our campus any longer. The conclusion to the article was that the opinion women were receiving from men was that they should not be involved in such activities, and that it was not for their women, and “unfeminine.”[44] It seemed that public opinion for these new women’s divisions was positive, but that perception seemed to only derive from some of the women of the time. Men truly were unhappy about their women being involved. That can be seen not just from Private Kilgore’s accounts in her diary but also in the articles published by the Daily Illini and how the University of Illinois itself acted towards the end of the war. It seemed that the university supported this women’s movement by how much they got involved, but through their quick dispansion of the WATC program, and how there are essentially no pictures found in the Illio’s supporting women’s involvement. It can only be assumed that the public’s opinion, meaning man’s had reached the University of Illinois, and made their decisions to follow the common belief of the time that much easier. It seems that even U of I could not beat public opinion and made women’s military involvement something forgotten.
Even though all we can see is the disappointment, and hatred the women who served in these programs often felt from both the men in America, and their loved ones. There is one account we have that shows it wasn’t all bad for the women who served who were in relationships. Dorothy Barnes was a member of the WAVES; she was also a housewife who enlisted when the war began. Upon learning of her husbands return to Hawaii, she asked her commanding officer to be transferred to Hawaii’s naval base. When he asked the reason why she wanted to be transferred, she told him that was where her husband was stationed.[45] We may think about women who were left behind on the home front while their men went to war, but now we have both husbands and wives fighting for the same cause. Yet there were rules and restrictions put in place by the army to prevent there to be public altercations between couples. It was not until Dorothy essentially quit, was she able to live with her husband on the naval base. Married women were allowed to enlist, however they were not allowed to live a married life and be a soldier. They had to choose which life they wanted to live, and Dorothy chose to be with her husband.
In the book written by Mattie E. Treadwell , published by the U.S. Army we learn that this book is meant to show , “the public skepticism and masculine hostility into which the WAC ran headlong in its first year.”[46] This skepticism shaped public opinion of women joining the military. This view was something women were use to, they dealt with it in WWI, and when they enlisted in WWII they dealt with it again. Even though their boyfriends and husbands despised their women being involved in the military, and even led to break-ups, and divorce. The women who served during WWII never gave up on their dreams of being able to serve their country during a war. They wanted to be more than housewives, and they wanted to learn who they could truly be. Private Kilgore shows precisely what it meant to serve your country, and to never lose faith in the cause you were fighting for. All across the country, women were joining the WAC, WASP, WAVES, and SPARS to ensure a better future for themselves. What they did not realize was that they were becoming essential groundbreakers in the movement for women to one day become full members of the military. Even though the University of Illinois disbanded its program, and after the war recruitment came to a halt on its campus. What they accomplished during the war, inspired other schools to take the same course of action in supporting women’s involvement. These women truly are inspirational to women everywhere, yet they seem to be a forgotten part of our nations history. When we learn about WWII in high school, we learn about the battles, and the men who died. Nowhere does it talk about the women who were involved in WWII. The stateside soldiers truly are a forgotten part of our nations history, and it seems that some things may ever change. The men’s views of the time, that women’s role was not important due to the fact that these programs established are overlooked by the teachers of the 21st century.
[1] The Infantry Journal. You Must Be Fit The Official Training Program of the Women’s Army Corps. U.S Government Printing Office. 1943. Pg 2
[2] Ibid. pg. 2
[3] Mattie E. Treadwell. United States Army in World War II, Special Studies, The Women’s Army Corps. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1954. Pg. xi
[4] Ibid. pg. 5
[5] Ibid. pg. 5
[6] The Daily Illini, January 13th, 1918. Pg. 1
[7] The Daily Illini, January 16th, 1918
[8] The Daily Illini, January 13th, 1918. Pg. 1
[9] Ibid.
[10] United States Army in World War II, Special Studies, The Women’s Army Corps. pg. 13
[11] Ibid. pg. 13
[12] Ibid. pg. 14
[13] Ibid. pg 14
[14] Ibid. pg. 15
[15] Ibid. pg.15
[16] Ibid. pg. 15
[17] Ibid. pg. 15
[18] Ibid. pg. 16
[19] Leisa D. Meyer. Creating GI Jane. Columbia University Press. (1996). Pg. 11
[20] Women’s Auxiliary Training Corps: Basic Manual. The Military Service Publishing Company. 1943. Pg. 53
[21] Ibid. pg. 54
[22] Ibid. pg. 54
[23] United States Army in World War II, Special Studies, The Women’s Army Corps. Pg. 66
[24] United States Army in World War II, Special Studies, The Women’s Army Corps. Pg. xi
[25] Women’s Auxiliary Training Corps: Basic Manual. Pg. 60
[26] Aileen Kilgore Henderson. Stateside Soldier. University of South Carolina Press 2001. Pg. 3
[27] Ibid. pg. 3
[28] Ibid. pg. 3
[29] Ibid. pg. 4
[30] Ibid. pg. 4
[31] Ibid. Pg. 26
[32] Ibid. pg. 31
[33] Ibid. pg. 39
[34] Ibid. pg. 44
[35] Ibid. pg. 240
[36]WATC Photograph, Photograph Subject File1868-, Record Series 39/2/20, Box 145, folder Military (WATC), University of Illinois Archives.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Ibid.
[39] The Daily Illini. February 28th, 1943. Pg. 1
[40] Ibid. pg. 1
[41] The Daily Illini. May 12th 1944. Pg. 3
[42] Ibid. pg. 3
[43] The Daily Illini. July 21st, 1944. Pg. 2
[44] Ibid. pg. 2
[45] Olga Gruhzit-Hoyt. They Also Served. A Birch Land Press Book. 1995. Pg. 112
[46]Mattie E. Treadwell. United States Army in World War II, Special Studies, The Women’s Army Corps. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1954 pg. xii
