The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-07-24
WACS To Replace British Auxilin1ies
Serving With Eighth L. S. Air Force
BY ROSETTE HARGROVE
NEA Staff Correspondent

London - The WACS OF the U.
S. Army who shortly will arrive
here in large numbers will be liter
ally doubly welcome. They will be
very welcome to the U. S. Eighth
Air Force, with whom they will
serve, and just about as welcome to
the Eighth. The WAAFS are badly
British WAAFS now attached to
the Eighth. THhe WAAFS are badly
needed by their own army.
Thanks to the work of the pre-
liminary group that came over
here some time ago to prepare the
way, all forseeable problems have
been pretty well solved and when
the first large scale contingent of
American enlisted women arrives,
hey will be abe TO start working
almost as soon as they land.
Captain Anna Wilson of Studio
City, Calf. ditc@7or of the WACS
in the European rbeater o. OPP
erations, and her assistant, Lieu
SNAAttALI toSAllIel 1-Nl DC4 Va 1NCW VI n,
have taken care of such important
factors as housing, welfare and rec
reational facilities.
Both Captain Wilson and Lieu
tenant Herbert found the British
Women's auXiliaries eayer and ready
to cooperate with their American
sisters. Said Lieutenant Herbert:
Their help and advice has been in
valuable in countless instances and
we are benefiting by their three
years experience and thus were
spared many initial mistakes"
The WACS will De fed the same
rations as the other U S. forces.
Wherever possible, they will have
separate messes, but in the smaller
units, where this is not feasible,
they will eat with the enlisted men,
taking their turns at K P. and
other duties.
Welfare arrang ements include
such features as a recreation room
and a quiet room for reading and
writing in every unit. Recreational
facilities are admirably taken care
of by the American Red Cross and
residential clubs, for the WACS are
being established throughout the
country as well as in I,orGon.
WAC military routine in the ETC
will be exactly the same as at home
except that there will be a nightly
bed check" to make sure the girls
are in bed, with lights out by 11:2O
p. m, and so get their proper
amount of sleep. On Saturday
nights, when lights OUT is ex-
tended to 1:30 a. M, there will be
no check.
AS American WACS take care
of their own uniforms, special ar
rangements have been made to
equip every unit with Mushrooms
and ironing boards No WAC in
the ETC, by the way, will be al
lowed to wear clothes other than
the uniform, except when taking
part in specific sports" None
will be allowed to bring civilian
clothes, anyway, o. S. authorities
having decided that it would be
unfair to tax Britalns already
depleted clothes supplies with re-
placements for Americas femi-
nine expeditionary force.
Every WAC who gets the ETO
assignment will be "handpicked."
Many who volunteer won't make
the grade, for those who do will
be definitely chosen for their back
ground, education and specific
qualifications. Languages and Ger
tain scientific aptitudes are a sure
pass. There are three general di-
visions: administration, Communi-
cations, and Motor Transport, which
embrace literally hundreds of spe-
cialists ranging from aerial photo
graphers to X-ray machine oper-
ators and from radio repairers to
chaplain's assistants