Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-03-11
Bv 1t. Maxine Goswick, WAC

BY 1t. Maxine Goswick, WAC
Washington women who are thinking
seriously of needing the. Armys call for
5000 new members of the Women's
Army Corps to care for American
wounded in Army hospitals will find
here at home a unit which stands as a
model Of efficiency and patriotic serv-
Ice.
This fact, well known In Army circles,
was brought to public attention recently
when Maj. Gen. Shelley Marietta, in
command of Walter Reed Hospital, cited
the WAC unit there for meritorious
service.
Today on the wall of the WAC day
room at Walter Reed hangs brown
wooden plaque, upon which is superim-
posed a green laurel wreath, testifying
to the outstanding service OF these
women, each of whom wears the Meri-
torious Service Award on her right
sleeve.
Signal Honors
For superior performance of duty,
devotion to duty, achievement and
maintenance of high standards of dis
cipline in the performance of the eX-
ceptionally difficult tasks in connection
with the care and treatment of sick and
wounded personnel ~
These were the words spoken by Gen.
Marietta when he singled out the Walter
Reed group of WACS for signal honors.
Behind these words lay thousands OF
hours devoted to tender care of the men
who are arriving here daily from the
battlefields of Europe and the Pacific
not only physical care, but cheer and
encouragement also.
The WACS at Walter Reed-the 2,531st
Service Command Unit Station Compile
ment-is one of the veteran medical
organizations of the corps and has
record of outstanding service.
Pioneer Hospital Group
The Walter Reed unit was established
June, 1870, Will d va Willy x
Nomen, who were joined the following
month by 20 more under the command
of 1T. Margaret Moos of St. Cloud, MINI.
Thu group was Immediately put to work
at a great variety of useful tasks-aS
cooks. clerks and ward attendants.
These 80 women were the pioneers who
blazed the trail for 224 WACS now on
duty at Walter Reed.
BY May of 1914 the unit had grown
considerably larger. At that time 1t.
Eleanor w. Champion of Harrisburg,
Pa, the present commander, was as
signed to her post, and Sergt. Dorothy
Minard became her first sergeant. Both
these women exemplify the highest type
of patriotic service. Both have sons III
the service.
1t. Champion and her son, Capt.
George C. bennington of the 18th Traf-
fic Regulating Group, now serving with
the Transportation Corps in France, are
one of the few mother and son officer
teams in the service Their story is an
interesting one: While 1t Champion
was taking her basic training at Fort
Des Moines for a WAC commission, her
son also was in training. She obtained
an emergency furlough to pin a second
lieutenant's gold bars on his shoulders.
Six weeks later he returned the compli-
ment by placing the same insignia on
his mothers blouse.
Sergt Minard-wllo is known af1ec-
tionately to Walter Reed patients as
MONS the mother of Pfc. Franklin
Ferguson Of the Marine Corps, now
fighting in the conquest Of Two Jima.
Another son. Seaman lie Donald Fer
guson, is now stationed in the Solo
mons. Her youngest son, Lloyd Fergu-
son, Is a high school student.
Perform Many Vital Tasks
And what are the duties of the WACS
at Walter Reed?
The unit there is broken down into
two contingents-178 on active duty at
the hospital and As assigned as students
of physical therapy.
Those on active duty perform great
variety of tasks, for the modern Army