page_title: Oveta Culp Hobby
section_title: War service
hierarchical_section_title: Oveta Culp Hobby / War service
caption_attribution_description: English: Oveta Culp Hobby is sworn in as the first WAAC by Maj. Gen. Myron C. Cramer. General George C. Marshall, second from left, and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson were witnesses of the ceremony.
context_page_description: Oveta Culp Hobby was the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first director of the Women's Army Corps, and a chairperson of the board of the Houston Post.
context_section_description: During World War II, Hobby headed the Women's Interest Section in the War Department's Bureau of Public Relations for a short time and then became the director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) (later the Women's Army Corps [WAC]), which was created to fill gaps in the Army left by a shortage of men. She was commissioned a colonel in the U.S. Army on 5 July 1943. The members of the WAC were the first women other than nurses to wear U.S. Army uniforms and to receive military benefits through the GI Bill. Hobby devoted herself to integrating the WAC within the military, despite considering women's military involvement a temporary necessity, and worked to protect and strengthen the WAC and its image. As director, she raised admission standards and created a Code of Conduct specific to the WAC to create a tightly regulated, high quality organization that portrayed women's corps in a good light. These standards, along with actions to guard the morals and image of members, developed from Hobby's prior experience with publicity and knowledge of the importance of media representation. Hobby achieved the rank of colonel and received the Distinguished Service Medal for efforts during the war. She was the first woman in the Army to receive this award.
caption: Oveta Culp Hobby is sworn in as the first WAAC by Maj. Gen. Myron C. Cramer. General George C.Marshall, second from left, and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson were witnesses of the ceremony.
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