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| WWII U.S. Government Poster between 1942 and 1944: Wikimedia Public Domain |
During World War II, women played a vital role in the civilian and
military workforce doing work that was typically considered man’s work.
As the war required more and more men to serve in combat, the United
States called on women to join the military to fill the rear-line jobs
which would free men for combat. The need was so great that Louisiana
Governor, Sam Jones, on February 27, 1943, proclaimed the month of March
as WAAC recruiting month in Louisiana. Governor Jones called on all
citizens for “sincere participation in, and whole-hearted support of,
this vitally important effort.”
Approximately 350,000 women in
the United States served in uniform signing-up for either the Women’s
Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC, later renamed the Women’s Army Corps,
(WAC)), the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES), the Marine Corps Women’s
Reserve, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserves (SPARS), the Women Airforce
Service Pilots (WASPS), the Army Nurse Corps, or the Navy Nurse Corps.
Women
were able to not only fill office and clerical jobs, but they also
drove trucks, repaired airplanes, worked as laboratory technicians,
automotive equipment engineers, rigged parachutes, served as radio
operators and mechanics, tower control operators, analyzed photographs,
flew military aircraft across the country, test-flew newly repaired
planes, and even trained anti-aircraft artillery gunners by acting as
flying targets.
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| Mary Sue Coleman Bailey |
It was not unusual for women in the Army Nurse
Corps to serve near the front-lines. Some women were injured while others
lost their lives as a result of direct enemy fire. Bossier City
resident, Mary Sue Coleman Bailey served near the front-lines and is one
of the many women that were injured during the war.
After three
years of training to be a nurse, Mary graduated from Highland Sanitarium
in 1940. She is one of many Bossier Parish women who answered the call
to serve our country during World War II by joining the Army Nurse Corps
in 1940. Until 1946 Mary served as First Lieutenant and was among the
first group of Army nurses to leave the United States during the war.
From
1942 to 1943 Mary’s first overseas assignment was in Iceland. Then, she
went to England just before going to France in 1944 where she landed on
Omaha Beach. She was stationed at a field hospital where she served as
chief nurse of her platoon near the front lines in Froville, France.
She also served near Sinsheim, Germany where she suffered a broken leg
while on duty. During Mary’s time in the Army Nurse Corps, she
participated in two invasions. At the time of her discharge from
service, Mary was stationed at Barksdale Field.
Other Bossier
Parish women, to name a few, who expressed their patriotism during World
War II by volunteering their services to various branches of the United
States military were:
Phyllis Marilyn Strayhan Farris, WAVES;
Catherine McLaughlin Brock, WAC as a Senior Master Sergeant; Margaret
Broadwell Sobczak, WAAC, WAC,, and WAF after the war; Wilda K. Tucker
Wilder, WAAC; Anita Elinor Barker, WAAC; and Mary Caldwell Fenet, WAC
where she suffered a disability related to her service during the war
and awarded a war Veteran’s pension.
Visit the Bossier Parish
Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City to learn more
about Bossier Parish history during the Second World War or any other
time.
By: Amy Robertson
Jon Soul is founder of the Coates Bluff Nature Trail and is Outdoor Education Program Coordinator for The Montessori School for Shreveport.
