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Object Description
| Title | [Letter from Adeline LaPlante to parents, 1943] |
| Date | 1943-01-22 |
| Item creator's name | LaPlante, Adeline Sears |
| Subject headings |
World War, 1939-1945 United States. Army--Women |
| Era | World War II era (1940-1946) |
| Service branch |
Army--WAAC Army--WAC |
| Item description | Adeline LaPlante writes her parents discussing her work and living situation in Charlotte, North Carolina. LaPlante writes about recruiting young women and her experience representing the WAAC on air at the local radio station, WBT in Charlotte. LaPlante also discussing her experiences dealing with men in social settings. |
| Veteran's name | LaPlante, Adeline Sears |
| Veteran's biography |
Adeline Sears LaPlante (1919-2006) of Easton, Pennsylvania, served as a recruiter and as a public relations officer in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1942-1945 . Adeline Sears LaPlante (1919-2006) was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, on 19 November 1919. She attended the University of Rochester and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree . LaPlante joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) in September, 1942. She attended Officer Candidate School at the WAAC Training Center at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and was commissioned in October, 1942. In January, 1943, LaPlante attended recruiter training in Atlanta, Georgia, before being assigned as a WAAC recruiter in Charlotte, North Carolina. While stationed in Charlotte, LaPlante preformed her recruiting duties by traveling to various cities and towns throughout North Carolina. In September, 1943, LaPlante attended Intermediate Officer Training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and Daytona Beach, Florida. She was transferred to Patterson Field, Fairfield, Ohio, in November, 1943, and worked in public relations. LaPlante met her future husband, Roy LaPlante, there and they married in March, 1944. She was discharged from the WAC in August, 1945, as a 1st Lieutenant. LaPlante died on 21 November, 2006. |
| Type | image |
| Original format | correspondence |
| Original publisher | [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] |
| Language | en |
| Contributing institution | Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries |
| Source collection | WV0395 Adeline Sears LaPlante Papers, 1942-1945 |
| Collection summary | This collection includes letters, postcards and Christmas cards from LaPlante to her parents about her career in the WAAC and the WAC from 1943-1944. The collection also contains a photograph album, and news clippings from LaPlante's time in the service. |
| Box | 1 |
| Folder | 2: Letters, 1943 January-August |
| Finding aid link | https://libapps.uncg.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=504 |
| Rights statement | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Additional rights information | IN COPYRIGHT. This item is subject to copyright. Contact the rights holder noted above for permission to reuse. |
| Object ID | wv0395.4.004 |
| Digital publisher | The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 -- http://library.uncg.edu/ |
| Full-text transcript |
P.M. Jan 22, 1943 Friday morning Dear Mother and Dad' Believe it or not, I'm writing this in the office. Business is slow' [name redacted] is out trying to drum up business as she says' I'm on duty here. You know that we can do more by walking around than we can by sitting here all day long. We now have two sergeants and one civil service girl doing our office work' we still have to check up on everything to decide who's to report when, etc. I think we always should, too, so that we do know what's going on. The girls are taken from here at 8:30 in the morning to Morris Field, the air base here [Charlotte, N.C.]. They go in the army recruiting station wagon. They have their physical there' we went along on alternate days all this week to see just what the routine was. They come back here for the mental which they take after an hour out for lunch. Then they report the next day to complete their papers and be sworn in. I've sworn in about six girls now. The girls we're getting are of a fine type, but we are not getting anywhere near the numbers we should. It's plenty hard to get these American women into this thing' today 7 were to report and only 3 showed up. After they had filed application blanks, too. And the colonel says we should be getting 100 per week' he, of course, has taken the whole state quota, or so it seems to us, and has given it to Charlotte. We've sworn in eight and will take in three more today. '.(time out. I've had lunch; a bad one that has made me feel uncomfortable. Good food, but I was at the SandW cafeteria and was sitting facing everybody as they streamed in on the long lunch line. Honestly, [name redacted] and I are both so self-conscious that it's awful. I knew everybody coming in was watching every mouthful and it ruined my lunch. It's that way all the time except that we don't usually sit in such a conspicuous place). I am now in the exam room while the three girls work on their 60 minute mental. Sometimes a sgt.[sergeant] gives this; sometimes we do'. Lee and I are moving Feb. 1, if we can get part of our money back. After all, the landlady didn't equip us with a kitchen as was agreed. We're moving into an apartment at the Addison Apartment House' the apartment belongs to a Lieut. Torney who is with a WAAC [Women's Auxiliary Army Corps] AWS [Aircraft Warning Service] company in Wilmington. She is now home on 7 days leave and is delighted to have us sublet from her. $55 per month. It's a beautiful apartment' 2 rooms, bath, small kitchen, small hall. Furnished exquisitely' taste everywhere. We're thrilled about it' for $2 per wk. a maid will come in 3 times per wk. to clean it. It's a beautiful place' and the apartment house is the best in town. It has a restaurant with wonderful food and cheap prices. Incidentally, food is much cheaper down here than it is up north. $.85 gets one a darned good dinner. And one of the sgts. does our shopping for us at the commissary. We don't attempt to cook dinners. Just breakfast and the evening meal which is a small one. Hot meal comes at noon when we eat out. Last nite we were on our first weekly radio program. We have a private Mitcham who is our publicity man. He used to be a radio announcer and a public relations man for one of the radio stations. He is good; knows everybody and keeps thinking up new publicity features. Yesterday afternoon we had a group of pictures' taken of 3 girls applying, being examined, interviewed, sworn in, and leaving on the train. It took all afternoon. We had a florist lend us a bouquet for the desk' just long enough for the desk shots to be taken. And a department store lent us luggage' a train on the side track at the railroad station made the final back-drop. Mitcham says shaking hands with someone like the mayor is old stuff'n.g.[no good] ' he wants us shaking hands with someone who is news, and vital. Such as a flying tiger who is here in Charlotte for a week or so. He arrived yesterday and they are trying to get him to pose with one of us'. About our program. I like to talk over the radio and don't get scared. Mitcham was the most scared of all of us; said he hadn't been before a mike in 60 days! [name redacted] voice is slightly monotonous (over the air) and she was scared to death. But the Col. said the program was good' and it will get better as we go along. All of which brings me to my'or our'latest problem. WBT is the big station in the Carolinas and up until now they have not had 15 min. for us. Well, I met Mr. Penny, the head of advertising up there, in the WBT studio last week. Last nite he met us on the street on the way to WAYS and asked us to come up to his office for a drink after the broadcast. We were dead tired but for publicity's sake we had to do it. Up we went' beautiful office and a silly man. Married, 7-yr. old daughter; he wants Lee to go out with his boss (head of WBT) and me to go out with him ""to have some fun"" with a mad pinch of my hand as he says it. We kidded along saying ""sometime"" very vaguely. He's an awful type man' repulsive' how he got where he is I don't know' but nevertheless he's powerful. This Sat. I'm to help on the script for a recorded program called ""Margaret Ann's Program." A man and his wife do it, and they want a WAAC' it is a three times a week program on WIOD in Miami. Our recording will be broadcast at 9:30 a.m. [illegible] 30 (guess I write Aunt Ethel to tell her to listen)' to WIOD. It's good WAAC publicity and it all is sent in from here to Atlanta. Then, dear Mr. Penny said that he thot[sic] WBT could find some time for a WAAC program. So you see how it is' same old chorus girl story. But we have reputations to keep, too, and we have no desire to do otherwise. Such obnoxious old fools'. Wed. nite we went with 3 officers to the Officers' Club at Morris Field. It's a beautiful club' the band there (only plays Sat.) is tops' mostly name players from big civilian orchestras. These officers got our names from a capt. (man) who was in Atlanta when we were. They were about 34ish' single (imagine!) and not fresh a bit. But they were nothing special, either' not such good English and not especially attractive. We certainly have a time with the lemons we seem to get'. This Sun. a WAAC officers mother is having us to her house for dinner. I have to make the recording at 2:30 that day, so it will be a short dinner for me. This is all the news to date. Some life I lead' I just lived in theory before, now the actuality has arrived. Much love- Adeline |
| OCLC number | 900817062 |
