The Alsos Mission used intelligence to determine how close Nazi Germany was to obtaining an atomic weapon. Detailed job descriptions were not provided to the women before enlisting with the WAC. Many who enlisted were motivated by patriotism, or sought employment and travel opportunities. Some women found their first jobs as a WAC. There were some tensions when WAC detachments were sent to project sites. Some Manhattan Project workers and scientists were not accepting of women serving in the military, and the women did not often have a say in the jobs they were assigned to.
Some WACs were disappointed because they hoped to serve overseas. Some struggled with censorship , and resented the fact that letters sent to family members were read and censored.
Without you, this project could not have achieved success. Your devotion to duty, and particularly your conscientious efforts to maintain the vital security of the project, has been of the highest order. Women served in a variety of positions through the WACs in other U. In , the Army abolished the WAC and women were fully integrated into the regular Army, serving in the same units as men.
The organization also publishes The Channel to keep members informed of local activities. Women Workers. Browse our collection of oral histories with workers, families, service members, and more about their experiences in the Manhattan Project.
Skip to main content. History Page Type:. Friday, April 27, Gallery Norma Gross working on an experiment.
WACs at Los Alamos. Myrtle Bachelder, While job opportunities were limited at first, a wider variety of positions opened up as the war progressed. The AAF assigned WACs as weather observers and forecasters, electrical specialists, sheet metal workers, flight-simulator instructors, control tower specialists, airplane mechanics, photo-laboratory technicians, and photo interpreters.
They took care of records and requisitions involving radio equipment, and, repaired and installed radios in tanks and other vehicles — both in camps and in the field. They also trained men in field artillery and coding and decoding messages. The Signal Corps assigned women as telephone operators, radio operators, teletype operators, cryptographers, cryptanalysts, and photographic experts.
Women served as medical and surgical technicians or in other capacities within the Medical Department. WACs were already overseas in other theaters, having first arrived in England in July By the end of the war, women had served in almost every corner of the conflict. The country had called, and the women of America answered.
WACs had few options in the post-war world. In these roles, many WACs found themselves serving throughout Europe. The first group of women arrived in France only weeks after the Allied invasion at Normandy. Eisenhower supported the perpetuation of the WAC. In , Congress authorized the continuation of the WAC. The roles of women in the Army have continued to evolve: in , the distinction between WACs and regular Army dissolved and women served alongside men in the same units; in , restrictions preventing women from serving in combat zones were lifted.
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