20/07/2026
in 1942, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) began its first training class at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. This marked the start of women being formally integrated into the United States Army.
The WAAC was created in May 1942 after more than a year of advocacy, with the goal of placing women in non-combat roles to free up men for the front lines. Women served in over 200 different capacities, from mechanics and cooks to communication officers and administrators. The WAAC was the only women’s military branch authorized to send its members overseas, meaning WAACs served in every theater of war. In 1943, the organization was granted full military status and renamed the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).
Oveta Culp Hobby was appointed the first director of the WAAC and later the WAC, becoming one of the most powerful women in the wartime military. In January 1945, she became the first woman in the Army to receive a Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat military award, for her leadership of the organization.
Charity Adams Early was among the first women to report for officer training at Fort Des Moines that same July. She rose to become the highest-ranking Black female officer in the WAC and was selected to command the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the first and only all-Black female unit to serve overseas. Tasked with clearing a massive backlog of undelivered mail for U.S. servicemen in Europe, her battalion completed a six-month assignment in three months.
In 1948, Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, permanently establishing women as part of the United States military, a direct legacy of the women who showed up to Fort Des Moines eighty-four years ago today.
📷: Newly arrived Women's Army Auxiliary Corps recruits, at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 1942
