WOMEN’S ARMY CORPS “WAC”

1. WOMEN’S ARMY CORPS“WAC” TE-ARIA MAHANEY BLOCK 2 GOLD

2. INDIVIDUALS’ ROLE IN WWII • Congressman Rogers introduced a bill on May 28th,1941, to establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps for service with the army of the United States. • The Women’s Army Corp was established to meet a pressing need, the Army’s manpower shortage; which became acute after the Allies’ invasion of France in 1944. But the WAC, although it did valuable work, never lived up to those hopes it entertained for it.

3. INDIVIDUALS’ PORTRAYAL ON WWII • WACS’ were said to be promiscuous-indeed, to have volunteered so that they can have sex. They were whores, lesbians, and either case unfit associates. Women served right beside their male companions side. • Since women had served in the army, they had no benefits or official status. They had to obtain their own food and living quarters. • WACS were not entitled to disability once they returned home, they didn’t get any type of government insurance or death benefits. • WACS’ did the same work as regular women in the civilian life but they were doing it in the army for men not their families.

4. INDIVIDUALS’ IMPACT ON WWII • Women were to knit, crochet, and sew for the men’s clothing and uniforms. • Helped to wind thousands of bandages desperately needed in the battle zone of Europe and the Pacific, and provided first aid to those soldiers who needed it. • So their impact helped keep some of the men alive that were fighting for their country.

5. POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE…? • I think this has been a positive and negative thing in the same way. I believe it has been a positive thing because in our world today, women that want to be in the war have the opportunity to go on their own and are not forced to be put somewhere they don’t want to be. It was a negative thing in the 1940’s because those women were basically forced to be in the war, when they could have been at home with their families, especially when they are not getting any benefits out of it they still had to do that job.

6. PORTRAYAL BY HISTORY BEEN FAIR AND ACCURATE…? • I believe that these women's’ portrayal had been both fair and accurate even though they weren’t treated the best. The WACS’ put a lot of time from their lives to be part of that war. They helped in every which way possible by, making the clothes, doing whatever the men wanted them to with them, and sacrificing living without any benefits from being in the war and especially being away from home. These women were portrayed kind of fair but very accurate!!

8. CITITED SOURCES • William L. O'Neill. "Women's Army Corps (WAC)." World War II: A Student Companion. n.p., Oxford University Press. 1999. n.pag. eLibrary. Proquest CSA. HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL. 05 May 2009. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com>. • http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/wac/wac.htm • Robert Crowley and Geoffrey Parker. Women in War. The Reader's Companion to Military History. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1996. eLibrary. Proquest CSA. HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL. 05 May 2009. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com>. • Bollow, John. "Remembering the WASPs. (Women Air Force Service Pilots in World War II)(The Post Remembers World War II)." Saturday Evening Post. 15 May 1995. 58(5). eLibrary. Proquest CSA. HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL. 05 May 2009. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com>.