The WAC is a Soldier, Too 1954 US Army; The Big Picture TV-277

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'The privilege of serving the United States Army in uniform is no longer limited to men. To prepare the women who will serve with the Regular Army, the Women's Army Corps recently opened a new training center at Fort McClellan, Alabama. THE BIG PICTURE camera goes to Fort McClellan to film and record this first good look at the new "college" for WAC officers and enlisted women. Since 1942 when the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was created, women training for service with the U.S. Army have had a number of temporary homes, ranging from Florida to Massachusetts, from Iowa to Virginia. Today, the permanent WAC Center is a cluster of 22 cream-colored buildings in a natural setting at Alabama's Fort McClellan. Today, women are playing increasingly important role in the nation's defense. Thanks to the modern WAC Training Center, graduates are better trained and better qualified for more responsible jobs than ever before.'

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_Army_Corps

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554, and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States as the WAC on 1 July 1943. Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby, a prominent woman in Texas society. The WAC was disbanded in 1978, and all units were integrated with male units...

The WAAC were first trained in three major specialties. The brightest and nimblest were trained as switchboard operators. Next came the mechanics, who had to have a high degree of mechanical aptitude and problem solving ability. The bakers were usually the lowest scoring recruits and were stereotyped as being the least intelligent and able by their fellow WAACs. This was later expanded to dozens of specialties like Postal Clerk, Driver, Stenographer, and Clerk-Typist. WAC armorers maintained and repaired small arms and heavy weapons that they were not allowed to use.

A physical training manual titled "You Must Be Fit" was published by the War Department in July 1943, aimed at bringing the women recruits to top physical standards...

In 1943 the recruiting momentum stopped and went into reverse as a massive slander campaign on the home front challenged the WACs as sexually immoral...

General Douglas MacArthur called the WACs "my best soldiers", adding that they worked harder, complained less, and were better disciplined than men. Many generals wanted more of them and proposed to draft women but it was realized that this "would provoke considerable public outcry and Congressional opposition", and so the War Department declined to take such a drastic step. Those 150,000 women who did serve released the equivalent of 7 divisions of men for combat. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable". Nevertheless, the slander campaign hurt the reputation of the WAC and WAVES; women did not want it known they were veterans.

During the same time period, other branches of the U.S. military had similar women's units, including the Navy WAVES, the SPARS of the Coast Guard, United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve, and the (civil) Women Airforce Service Pilots. The British Armed Forces also had similar units, including the Women's Royal Naval Service ("Wrens"), the Auxiliary Territorial Service. and the Women's Auxiliary Air Force...