Lives of women in the wars

     During WWI and World War II, women didn’t think wars just need strong men, they also need women; “it wasn’t my brother’s country, or my husband’s country; it was my country as well. And so this war wasn’t just their war; and I needed to serve in it”, as Beatrice Hood Stroup said that express her feeling about women serve in army (Permeswarn 95). Because of a large number of women volunteered in the military, U.S. Congress established the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), whose had many influences, even it have impact today (Permeswarn 95).
     So how were their lives during the wars?
     In Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, their purpose is “making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation,” so before they joined into the army, they needed to train about two months that would improve their basic knowledge and skills. The average age of women who joined into the WAAC was almost around 25 years old; all of them were graduated from college and had work experiences (Bellafaire). The first women’s training center was Iowa, which opened on July 20, 1942; some of women soldiers needed to study in the six-week Candidate School, but some of enlisted women needed to take a four-week basic training course (“67^th WAAC Detachment”). The Women’s Army Auxiliary Crops was very successful and it showed how important the women in the wars.

      Also, another reason why the women were so important for the military is they nursed injured soldiers and encouraged them get well recovery. During 18^th century, women did not serve in an organization, but in 1899 congress established a professional organization for the army nurses called Nurse Corps. There were about 21,000 female nurses served in the Army Nurse Crops in November of 1918 ,and there were four hundreds three nurses on active duty in WWI ("Army Nurses of World War I"). World War I marked a new era that movement of women got out of home and into the social public; they began seeking higher education and equal rights. In the Vietnam War, the army did not limited women get their achievement, and encouraged them get the equal educations as the army officers(Tomblin).
     Some women even worked as soldiers and spies, which was common during the World War. According to the National Women’s History Museum, there were about 4,500 women worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the World War II, such as Virginia Hall, Elizabeth Thorpe, Maria Gulovich and Julia Child (Trosclair). One of the most famous and most honored of all woman spies in Office of Strategic Services is Virginia Hall from Baltimore. When she was young, she worked as an agent for French; unfortunately, she lost her legs in winter of 1941. After she lost her legs, she transferred to the OSS as a radio operator. She rather to serve her country than become a foreign service officer. She monitored German troop movements and looked for the place in French to get supplies for the French Resistance and other OSS agents could drop by parachute from Allied planes ("National Women's History Museum").

     In later Vietnam War, “non-military women also served important roles. They provided entertainment and support to the troops through the USO, the American Red Cross, and other humanitarian organizations” (“The women of Vietnam War”). The women nurses who served in Vietnam should have several months experience and they were belted by the nurses who have already had about 20 year experiences. Because of the medevac systems were used in this war to save injury soldiers who need the medicinal assistance, which made nurses faced more patients. They were requited to make quick decision of who was save first; it was very difficult to these nurses. These nurses worked about twelve hours per day and six days per week when a mass incident occurred. Sometimes, they volunteered their time to talk to the injury soldiers, went to the local hospital to offer the civilian medical servers or to teach classes in hygiene ("The women of the Vietnam War: Nurses”). The Vietnam War shows how difficult live the women follower had, their lives were not better than the soldiers’.          
     In a word, women’s lives in the army were very harsh and strict, but they didn’t even complain that and they did as well as men. They helped and supported their countries, because they were part of it; they also helped themselves to gain more honors and respect. These wars gave the opportunities which women made contributions of the county.  It was a significant event that women stated get into publish; it also means the social status of women were changed by themselves.

 

                                                                         Work citied
Permeswaran, Yashila. "The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps: A Compromise to Overcome the Conflict of Women Serving in the Army." 42.1 (2008): 95. History Reference Center. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. 
Bellafaire, Judith A. "The Women's Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service." N.p., 17 Feb. 2005. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"67TH WAAC Detachment." Adjutant General's School, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"Army Nurses of World War I (documentary)." YouTube. Ed. Anthony V. Rotolo, David Kinsey, and Frank Knapp. YouTube, 24 June 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Tomblin, Barbara Brooks. "Kara Dixon Vuic . Officer, Nurse, Woman: The Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War . (War/Society/Culture.) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2010. Pp. Xii, 271. $50.00." The American Historical Review 116.5 (2011): 1534. Print
Trosclair, Carroll. "OSS Female Spies in WWII." Suite. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"National Women's History Museum." Education & Resources. NWHM, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"The Women of Vietnam War: Nurses." The Vietnam Center and Archive: Exhibits - Women's History Month. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.