When the U.S. officially entered the war in December 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, pressed for a women’s branch of the armed forces; General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of U.S. forces in Europe, agreed that womens’ service would be essential for victory. Thus the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (later renamed Women’s Army Corps or WAC) was established.
More than 100,000 women enlisted in the WAC (6,000 were officers) and were initially trained to serve in three roles: switchboard operators, mechanics and bakers.
During this time the Navy also established the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) program, with more than 100,000 women joining and performing critical jobs including military intelligence, cryptography and parachute rigging.
Women also began to take flight. More than 1,000 women joined the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), as licensed pilots who flew planes transporting essential cargo from factories to bases, and participated in simulation strafing and target missions. For decades, the WASPs’ service went unrecognized. However in 2010, they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors, under the Obama Administration.
Three years after the end of WWII, in 1948, President Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, which recognized women as full members of the armed forces and gave them access to the same benefits as male counterparts.
“Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom. That our resolve was just as great as the brave men who stood among us and with victory our hearts were just as full and beat just as fast-that the tears fell just as hard for those we left behind.”