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[Mary Williams Elder at Military Reservation, circa 1943]

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[Mary Williams Elder at Military Reservation, circa 1943]

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Title	[Mary Williams Elder at Military Reservation, circa 1943]
Date	1943
Date approximate?	yes
Subject headings	World War, 1939-1945 United States. Army--Women
Era	World War II era (1940-1946)
Service branch	Army--WAC Army--WAAC Army--AAF
Item description	Mary Williams Elder stands before a building labled "Military Reservation/ Restricted" by the sign in front, probably at Daytona Beach, Florida, during basic training in January 1943. She is wearing the WAAC summer khaki shirtwaist, tie, and skirt with a Hobby hat.
Veteran's name	Elder, Mary Frances Williams
Veteran's biography	Mary Frances Williams Elder (1919-1999) of Burlington, North Carolina, served in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) from 1942 to 1945, and was a longtime secretarial worker in the local textile industry . Mary Frances Williams Elder (1919-1999) was born on 14 November 1919, in Lexington, North Carolina, but her family moved to Bristol, Tennessee, during the Depression. They returned to North Carolina in the mid-1930s, and moved from Shelby to Burlington in 1937. That year Elder graduated from Burlington High School and enrolled at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). She completed the secretarial program the following year, and went to work at May Hosiery Mill. In November, 1942, Elder was inducted into the WAAC at Fort Bragg. Two months later she was sent to Daytona Beach, Florida, for basic training. Elder was assigned to the 1st Separate Battalion and stationed briefly at Camp Polk in Louisiana. She then transferred to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, for overseas training and preparation. In 1943, she departed from Camp Shanks, New Jersey, aboard the Aquitania and sailed to Europe. She disembarked in Scotland before reaching Norwich, England, where she served as an aide to Col. Charles B. Westover and Gen. James Pratt Hodges. She was then quartered at Ketteringham Hall near Hethel Air Force Base and worked for Gen. Francis Griswold through the end of 1944. In January 1945, Elder returned to the United States for Officer Candidate School in Des Moines, Iowa. Following her completion of OCS in May 1945, Elder was assigned to the Pentagon in the Air Intelligence Division. On 14 November 1945 she was discharged from the army . In 1946 Mary Elder married Delos Elder and returned to Burlington, North Carolina, where she enrolled in psychology classes at Elon College on the GI Bill. Following the birth of her three children, Elder returned to work at the May Hosiery Mill, which was then owned by Burlington Industries. Five years later she began work at Wachovia Bank, but left shortly thereafter and took a job at Glen Raven Mills, where she worked for many years and helped to found the custom fabrics division. Elder died on 7 May 1999.
Type	image
Original format	photographs
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	WV0029 Mary Williams Elder Papers
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	WV0029.6.002
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/
OCLC number	900810458

[Mary Williams Elder at Military Reservation, circa 1943]

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