Release a Man for Combat: The Women's Army Corps during World War II

The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in which almost 150,000 women served over the course of the war was the first women’s unit in the Regular Army. In order to release male soldiers to fight the women worked at first in jobs that were traditionally marked female but were soon also trained as mechanics and pilots and served in male-dominated jobs in the United States, Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia. In her study M. Michaela Hampf traces the experience of these women/soldiers, examines military and civilian discourses on women in the military, and explores how the Army dealt with soldierly femininity and female sexuality. Drawing upon government documents, records of courts-martials as well as letters, poems, and songs, she shows how hard the concept of the women/soldier was fought over in the 1940s – a battle that continues to this day.