After yearsout of print, this new and redesigned book brings back the best and most complete history of the Women's Army Corps. Loaded with history, tables, charts, statistics, photos, personalities, and many useful appendices (including a history of WAC uniforms), The Women's Army Corps, 1945-1978 is must reading for anyone who served those years in the Army as well as for those who want a complete history of the modern-day military. Author Bettie Morden served from 1942-1972 and she used her experience and access to people and records to compile the definitive reference work. Col. Morden is a graduate of the WAC Officers' Advanced Course (1962); Command and General Staff College (1964); and the Army Management School (1965). She has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

When America entered World War II, the surge of patriotism was not confined to men. Congress authorized the organization of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later renamed Women's Army Corps) in 1942, and hundreds of women were able to join in the war effort. Charity Edna Adams became the first black woman commissioned as an officer. Black members of the WAC had to fight the prejudices not only of males who did not want women in their "man's army," but also of those who could not accept blacks in positions of authority or responsibility, even in the segregated military. With unblinking candor, Charity Adams Earley tells of her struggles and successes as the WAC's first black officer and as commanding officer of the only organization of black women to serve overseas during World War II. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion broke all records for redirecting military mail as she commanded the group through its moves from England to France and stood up to the racist slurs of the general under whose command the battalion operated. The Six Triple Eight stood up for its commanding officer, supporting her boycott of segregated living quarters and recreational facilities. This book is a tribute to those courageous women who paved the way for patriots, regardless of color or gender, to serve their country.

Book 1

The 150,000 women who served in the Women's Army Corps are now seen as the undersung heroes of the Second World War. This memoir describes the life of a WAC enlistee who would serve in England when it came under attack, France immediately after the Allied invasion, and Germany after VE Day. From her experience in basic training in Daytona Beach to the climactic moment when she saw the Statue of Liberty as her ship approached American shores upon her return home, this work provides a glimpse into the life of a woman in uniform during this crucial time in American history.

Daughter, sister and sister-in-law of Army men who would all rise to the rank of General, it was not much of a surprise when Ethel A. Starbird decided to serve her country as a member of the Womans Army Corps during World War II. After multiple attempts to make weight to join the Army, due to the lack of different weight standards for female recruits, Starbird learns to do things the Army way as a Public Relations Man, making her way from her enlistment in Burlington, Vermont to an overseas assignment as one of the New Guinea Pigs in Hollandia, New Guinea. From learning the Queen Street shuffle - required to allow a chivalrous male General to still enter an elevator before a female Private - to the Armys seeming obsession with the reproductive health of their WACs, join Starbird as she humorously recounts her enlisted experience and the Armys growing pains as it learned to adapt to women in its ranks.

Upheld current sex and race occupational segregation, assuring the public that women were in the military to do "women's work" within it, and resisting African-American women's protests against their relegation to menial labor. Yet Creating GI Jane is also the story of how, in spite of a palpable climate of repression, many women effectively carved out spaces and seized opportunities in the early WAC. African-American women and men worked together in demanding civil.