|
Title |
[Servicemen in Paris on VE Day, 1945] |
|
Date |
1945-05-08 |
|
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 |
Seven servicemen pose beside a car in Paris on VE Day, 8 May 1945. A note on the back reads"A group of officers and GIs from PWD." Pictured from left to right: Sgt. Kent, Sgt. Gray, Sgt. Perks, WO Taylor, Cpl. Salzs, Major Fehr, Capt. Coleman. |
|
Veteran's name |
Shaver, Ruth Agnes |
|
Veteran's biography |
Ruth Shaver (1900-1990) served as a recruiter in Ohio and an intelligence officer in Europe as a member of the WAC and WAAC during World War II .
Ruth Shaver was born in Ohio in 1900. She attended Muskingham College in New Concord, Ohio, and Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, before being employed as a School of Education instructor and methods supervisor in the Curry Training School of the Woman's College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in 1937.
In 1943 Shaver enrolled in the Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). After basic training at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, and Officer Candidate School, Shaver was appointed to head recruiting for both the WAAC and it's successor, the Women's Army Corps (WAC), for the state of Ohio, and also served as the liaison officer to the governor. In 1944, Shaver received orders overseas to join the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force in the Intelligence Section of Psychological Warfare, and was also appointed commanding officer of a company of WACs going overseas. To prepare for her work in intelligence, she was sent to British Intelligence School, where she and one other WAC were the first two women to ever attend that school. Shaver was then sent to Paris, where she worked as an interpreter and as an interrogator of French prisoners of war and deportees. She was later transferred to Germany, where her duties included working to counteract German propaganda. Her last position in Europe was in France as dean of women and teacher of French at Biarritz American University. By this time she had been promoted to captain. For her distinguished service during the war, she was awarded the American Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre .
After the war, Shaver returned to Greensboro and Curry School. In 1950 she moved over to Woman's College, as associate professor in the Department of Romance from which she retired in 1966. Shaver died on 27 January 1990. |
|
Place |
Paris (France) |
|
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 |
WV0226 Ruth Shaver Papers |
|
Collection summary |
Correspondence, interviews and news releases, military papers, publications, newspaper clippings, poems, scrapbook, and photographs. Publications: WAAC/WAC/Army Printed Material, ca. 1942-1945: pamphlet;155 WAC Jobs, 1943; pamphlet; Guide for the Operation of Block Leader Service, 1943; pamphlet; Physical Examinations of Personnel of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; pamphlet; Tentative WAAC Drill Regulations, ca.1942-1943; pamphlet; Train Regulations, ca. 1942-1945; pamp; W.A.A.C. Recruiting Training Memorandum, ca. 1942-1943; book; WAC Songs, ca. 1943-1945; and book; Women's Army Corps Fact Sheet, 1943. WAAC/WAC/Army Publications, ca. 1942-1946: pamphlet; 73 Questions and Answers about the WAC, 1943; pamphlet; 90,000 More WAAC Recruits, 1943; pamphlet; A Plan for Increasing the Rate of Enrollment in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; pamphlet; Graduation Seventeenth Officer Candidate Class of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; pamphlet; Summary of Organizational and Promotional Work Effected for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1943; newsletter; WAC News Letter, July 1943; and pamphlet; When You Are Overseas, 1943. |
|
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 |
WV0226.6.014 |
|
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 |
900812336 |
