WORLD WAR II - WAACS/WACS - WAVES - SPARS - JOIN THE WAR EFFORT

 

WAC Uniform

  WACS, WAVES AND SPARS

  

The United States government came to realize in   1942 that a whole part of our population could help win the war.   Women were very capable of jobs some men had and could replace them in some occupations, so that our men could join the front lines. The Army, Navy and Coast Guard began to recruit young to middle-aged women into jobs in noncombative environments, and women were eager to contribute.

Insignia of the WACS
Athena's head

WAVES uniform

In 1942, the WAVES were formed representing the Navy and the WAACS for the Army. By 1943, they were renamed the WACS and 60,000 women had enlisted.

Now they could officially have ranks, benefits and pay through the military. Also in 1943, they began to deploy overseas into all sorts of roles. The Marines also had an auxiliary women's unit - USMCWR - U.S. Marine Corp Women's Reserve)

The SPARS were formed as the auxiliary for the Coast Guard. The name was related to the Coast Guard motto, "Semper Paratus - Always Ready."

The Coast Guard at the time was short of men, so adding women to fill jobs as radio operators, parachute riggers, air traffic controllers and even logistic specialists helped immensely. About 10,000 women between the ages of 20-36 joined.

This addition of women to our armed services was somewhat controversial for some male servicemen. Some didn't want to go to the front lines; they liked their jobs and didn't want to lose them. The women also received equal pay. This caused some resentment, but for the most part, the extra labor force was welcomed and helped the overall confidence of our services.

SPARS uniform

At first, the women's jobs were mostly clerical, but as the war wore on, they were placed in more challenging roles. They were drivers and mechanics. (Queen Elizabeth II trained as a mechanic.) Maintenance specialists, flight simulator trainers, and radio operators and cryptologists helped our cause. Over 400 WACS served in the Manhattan Project to create the atomic bomb as scientists, metallurgists, photographers and technicians.

In DCGS, we are proud of one of our members who was a WAC. Roena Bayes was a graduate of Farmer High School and BGSU with a two year education degree. She joined the WAACs in 1942 and was trained in map reading and keeping flight records at Minter Air Force Base in California. In 1944, she was deployed overseas, assigned to the 8th Air Corp.

Roena Bayes

Her first job was at the Cheddington Air Force Base in England in mail, but her map reading talents led her to a task following Allied bomber progress in Europe and presenting these reports to a group of officers in England. 

After D-Day 1945, she and some other WACS were flown to France near Paris, assigned to the Composite Command of the 9th Air Force. Her group was to go through the Rothschild Estate that the Germans had occupied during the war as a headquarters, searching for relevant papers that the 

Nazis had left behind when they quickly

evacuated.

After V-E Day she was flown into Germany as part of the occupation troops, serving as a Briefing Coordinator. She attained the rank of Colonel and was given an Honorable Discharge in 1945. 

Roena at 100 years old.

Roena was very proud of her service and was always willing to talk about it. She died on September 18. 2024 at the age of 106.

If any reader has a woman ancestor who

served in the WACS, WAVES, or SPAR

during World War II,

please honor her by placing her

name along with a little information

about her in the comments.

Rank, Job Assignment, Location

or anything you might know about her

service.

Dianne Kline, Researcher