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| Women war workers assembling
fuselage. |
The Home Front and
Beyond
American
women played important roles during World War II, both
at home and in uniform. Not only did they give their sons,
husbands, fathers, and brothers to the war effort, they
gave their time, energy, and some even gave their lives.
Reluctant to enter the war when it erupted in 1939, the
United States quickly committed itself to total war after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That commitment included
utilizing all of America's assets--women included.The
Axis powers, on the other hand, were slow to employ women
in their war industries.
When the war began, quickie marriages became the norm,
as teenagers married their sweethearts before the men
went overseas. As the men fought abroad, women on the
home front worked in defense plants, war-related organizations,
and factories in addition to managing their households.
When men left, women "became proficient cooks and housekeepers,
managed the finances, learned to fix the car, worked in
a defense plant, and wrote letters to their soldier husbands
that were consistently upbeat." (Stephen Ambrose, D-Day,
488) Rosie the Riveter helped assure that the Allies would
have the war materials they needed to defeat the Axis.
More than 350,000 American women also served in uniform,
both at home and abroad, joining groups such as the Women's
Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs), the Navy Women's Reserve
(WAVES), the Marine Corps Women's Reserve, the Coast Guard
Women's Reserve (SPARS), the Women Airforce Service Pilots
(WASPS), the Army Nurses Corps, and the Navy Nurse Corps.
General Eisenhower felt that he could not win the war
without the aid of the women in uniform. "The contribution
of the women of America, whether on the farm or in the
factory or in uniform, to D-Day was a sine qua non of
the invasion effort." (Ambrose, 489)
Women in uniform took office and clerical jobs in the
armed forces in order to free men to fight. They also
drove trucks, repaired airplanes, worked as laboratory
technicians, rigged parachutes, served as radio operators,
analyzed photographs, flew military aircraft across the
country, test-flew newly repaired planes, and even trained
anti-aircraft artillery gunners by acting as flying targets.
Some women served near the front lines in the Army Nurse
Corps, where more than 200 were killed.
Sixty-eight American service women were captured as POWs
in the Philippines. Nearly 1,600 nurses were decorated
for bravery under fire and meritorious service, and 565
WAACs in the Pacific Theater won combat decorations. Nurses
were in Normandy on D-plus-four.
The National World War II Museum recognizes the contribution
that women played in the success of D-Day and the Allied
victory in World War II and explores that contribution
in depth in its home front gallery.
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