On Monday, March 8, the Gore Center sponsored a National Women’s History Month event featuring women veterans of World War II who participated in our Veterans Oral History Project.  Co-sponsors included MTSU’s NWHM Committee and the Department of History.  Dr. Amy Staples, Associate Professor of History, served as moderator.

When the United States entered World War II in December of 1941, the immediate demands of mobilization quickly produced critical personal shortages in all branches of the military.  As a result, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps turned to women to fill essential roles, greatly expanding women’s participation in the military over anything previously seen and opening the door to military careers previously unimagined.  But this transformation did not occur without resistance.  When the House of Representatives debated the Women’s Army Corps in the Spring of 1942, one Southern congressman asked, “Who will then do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself; who will nurture the children?”  The women who sought to serve their country in a time of crisis had to overcome narrow views of their abilities and societal roles.  Upon winning places in the armed forces, some of those women had to bear with negative stereotypes and smear campaigns in the press.  The government countered with publicity campaigns featuring positive images of military women and slogans such as “Free a man to fight!”

Vickie Riggan, a Nashville teacher and historian of women in World War II, gave the keynote address, exploring many of those themes.  Elinor Folk of Nashville, who was in the Navy WAVES as a Link (flight simulator) Trainer in Pensacola from 1942-1944, read from letters that she wrote to her mother in California describing her experiences.  Following the two feature presentations, the other women veterans participated in a panel discussion and question-answer session with the audience. 

Honored guest panelists included Polly Harms of Nashville, who served in the Marine Corps; Harriet Howard of Smyrna, Sarah Lowe of Rockvale, Mary Eileen Gore Rotenberry of Cookeville, and Amelia Slayden of Nashville, who served the Navy WAVES; Barbara Robinson of Tullahoma who flew with the Weather Wing of the WASPs (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots); and two women who served in the Women’s Army Corps, Margaret Salm and Florence Slavin, both of Nashville.

  Index