The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was an all-female unit of the US Army established during World War II, allowing women to be appointed to non-combatant roles. The WAC disbanded in 1978 as women were being assimilated into the regular military structure. The WAC began as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942. Approximately 140,000 women served in the WAC during WWII, taking on non-combat roles and freeing up men for combat duty. Other branches of the military also had female units.
The Women’s Army Corps was an all-female unit of the United States Army established during World War II. It was officially started in 1943 with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of a congressional bill allowing women to be drafted and appointed to non-combatant roles in the military. In 1978, the Women’s Army Corps was disbanded because women had made inroads into the military and were being assimilated into its regular structure.
The Women’s Army Corp originally began as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942. Edith Nourse Rogers, a Congresswoman from Massachusetts, introduced the bill to establish the WAAC to help meet the demand for military assets. As an auxiliary organization, the WAAC had no military status, and as a result, women members did not receive benefits comparable to those of members of the regular army, even if they performed military duties. To remedy this situation, Rogers introduced the second bill that would create the WAC.
Much of the initial reaction to women in the military has been negative. Some people feared that the next step would be to send women to fight. Others felt that women belonged at home and saw the Women’s Army Corps as encroaching on male territory. The need for more fighting men was the major factor in overcoming resistance to women in Army roles and the Women’s Army Corps continued to prove its worth to the country. General Douglas MacArthur reportedly called them “my best soldiers.”
Approximately 140,000 women served in the Women’s Army Corp during World War II in both roles in the United States and abroad. Up until that point, the only women to serve with the military had been nurses in the Army Nurse Corp. Women in the corps took on many non-combat roles performed by men, freeing up men in these roles for combat duty. WAC regulations allowed women to hold any fixed, non-combat position that they were physically able to handle. In addition to working in clerical roles, many WACs have worked as parachute riggers, heavy equipment operators, intelligence analysts, radio operators, and more.
Smaller numbers of women have served with the Women’s Army Corps in Korea and Vietnam. During the Korean War, detachments of the Women’s Army Corps supported the war effort in Japan and Okinawa, with some women working in Seoul and Pusan in Korea. During the Vietnam War, WAC personnel served at Army Headquarters near Saigon and at General William Westmoreland’s headquarters in Saigon.
Other branches of the military service also had female units. They included Navy Waves and the Navy Nurse Corps. There were also Marine Corps Women’s Reserve and Women’s Air Service pilots.
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