American International Journal of Social Science

American International Journal of Social Sciences “The Veterans of the WAC during World War II”
Isabel María García Conesa

Abstract
The inadequate conditions suffered by women as army nurses, who were mostly civilians and did not get any care or compensation benefits by the US Army, laid the battlefront necessary for a further enhancement of a professional women’s corp. Since the women who volunteered for World War I were not official members of the Army, they did not receive its protection and had to fend their food and accommodation on their own. Neither did they have any benefit in health care or legal protection. Furthermore, they did not receive the benefits of war veterans, as their male counterparts used to, either. The following step was the proposal of a law to establish a Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), later renamed Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in the US Army in 1941. The law was finally passed on May 14, 1942. As a result, American women could work with the military during World War II and they received food, shelter, legal protection, health care, and a living wage. What we shall be looking upon this article is how the WAAC/WAC got to be created in the Army and its further involvement in the scenario during World War II.

Full Text: PDF