page_title: American women in World War II
section_title: Civilians aiding the military
hierarchical_section_title: American women in World War II / Civilians aiding the military
caption_attribution_description: These four female pilots leaving their ship, Pistol Packin' Mama, at the four engine school at Lockbourne AAF, Ohio, are members of a group of Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) who have been trained to ferry the B-17 Flying Fortresses. L to R are Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn.
context_page_description: American women in World War II became involved in many tasks they rarely had before; as the war involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale, the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable. Their services were recruited through a variety of methods, including posters and other print advertising, as well as popular songs. Among the most iconic images were those depicting "Rosie the Riveter", a woman factory laborer performing what was previously considered man's work.
  With this added skill base channelled to paid employment opportunities, the presence of women in the American workforce continued to expand from what had occurred during World War I. Many sought and secured jobs in the war industry, building ships, aircraft, vehicles, and munitions or other weaponry. Others drove trucks or provided other logistical support for soldiers. Still others worked on farms. Women also enlisted in significantly greater numbers in the military and as nurses serving on the front lines.
  During World War II, approximately 400,000 U.S. women served with the armed forces.
context_section_description: The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were civilians who flew stateside missions, chiefly ferrying planes from one location to another when male pilots were needed for combat roles. In September 1942, General Henry H. Arnold agreed to form two units of women who would help fly aircraft in the United States. They were The Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS), led by Nancy Harkness Love, and The Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD), led by Jacqueline Cochran. These two groups merged in 1943 to create (WASP). More than 1,074 of these skilled pilots became the first women to fly American military aircraft, taking off from airfields at 126 bases across the United States to logistically relocate fifty percent of the combat aircraft during the war. The WASP was disbanded in 1944, when returning combat pilots took over ferrying tasks; 38 WASPS died in accidents. The WASP was granted veteran status in 1977, and given the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.
  Women also served as spies for the Office of Strategic Services, a United States intelligence agency. Of the 4,500 women employed by the OSS as clerks, operations agents, codebreakers, and undercover agents (out of the 13,000 people employed in total by the OSS), 1,500 worked overseas. One, Portland, Oregon's Claire Phillips, an untrained spy, operated a clandestine ring under the cover of Club Tsubaki, a cabaret popular with Japanese officers stationed in Manila. Earning the nickname "high-pockets" because she smuggled information in her brassiere, she also funnelled food, medicine and other supplies to prisoners in the Philippines. Another, Elizabeth Thorpe Pack, used seduction to extract information, and was best known for helping to acquire the first Enigma machine from Polish intelligence and for securing Italian and Vichy French codebooks. Virginia Hall, who was labeled by the Gestapo as "the most dangerous of all alien spies", disguised herself as a milkmaid in France in order to spy on German forces.
  In 2017, Sadie O. Horton, who spent World War II working aboard a U.S. Merchant Marine barge, posthumously received official veteran’s status for her wartime service, becoming the first recorded female Merchant Marine veteran of World War II.
caption: WASP pilots ferried warplanes from factories to U.S. bases.
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