Dorothy Farrington Gribble Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
Where can I find more information?: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/863
What's in the full collection?: February 1999 oral history transcript; portrait photograph of Ethel LeBlanc Palma in uniform taken in Sydney, Australia on May 1944; photograph of Ethel LeBlanc Palma at Allied Officers Club in Port Moresby, New Gunea 1944; Ethel LeBlanc Palma with her WAAC graduating class on July 14, 1943 in Ft. Des Moines; Iowa; photograph of Ethel LeBlanc Palma in her wedding dress married at Lake Charles Air Base, LA on Dec. 20,1945; First WAACs photograph, 1943; photograph of her friends and co-workers in New Guinea; photograph of Ethel seated in center with lei surrounded by her Filipino employees on May 2,1945; photograph of Ethel on ship leaving Manila; photograph of Ethel on a ship headed home after the war U.S.S. Evangeline on September 1945; photograph of Ethel in New Guinea in 1944; photograph of Ethel wearing sunglasses while lounging off shore in New Guinea with officers; photograph of Ethel with other women and officers in New York; photograph of Ethel on May 2,1999; Invitation to Dinner Dance at "Hill Top" Officer's Club in honor of the WAC's arrival in New Guinea, July 11, 1944; Office memorandum by the Office of the Base Censor; Lt. Ethel LeBlanc receiving and dispatch section on August 31, 1944; Drawing of a woman in her uniform; Clippings; Military Record and Report of Separation Certificate of Service, September 2, 1945; Women Veterans Historical Project questions with handwritten answers; News Release of "Women's Army Auxilary Corps Service to be Considered Active Military Service" on April 2, 1980; WAAC parody song sheets.
Full biography: Dorothy "Dottie" Farrington Gribble of High Point, North Carolina, served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1943 to 1945, and then had a long career in sales. Dorothy "Dottie" Farrington Gribble was born in High Point, North Carolina. After graduating from Colfax High School in 1936, she worked for the Mojud (Beringer) Hosiery Mill in Greensboro.Gribble enlisted in the WAAC in early 1943 and attended basic training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. She did additional training at Russellville, Arkansas, before being assigned to the 89th Headquarters, Air Force, at Bergstrom Field in Austin, Texas. There she served in a personnel office doing administrative work for a year. She left the WAC following her marriage to Bill Gribble, who was also stationed at Bergstrom, in June 1944. Following Bill Gribble's discharge several years later, the Gribbles returned to Greensboro, where Dottie took a cosmetology course and started a beauty shop. She also worked in telephone sales for Sears. Following her husband's death in 1963, Gribble went to work for Berry Water Gardens in nearby Kernersville for twelve years. She then worked in the telephone sales department of J.C. Penney's department store before returning to Sears telephone sales and contracts. Dorothy Gribble died on 12 June 2007.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Army -- WAC
Army -- AAF
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
United States. Army--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Army Administration Class; Dorothy Farrington Gribble and her Army Administration Class at Russellville, Arkansas, in 1943. The women are seated in an auditorium and are uniformed in khaki with Hobby hats.

: Dorothy Farrington and Kay Craven in gowns; Army Air Corps members Dorothy Farrington Gribble and her friend Kay Craven are seated on the ground in front of a lattice-work fence in the dresses they wore to the party thrown for re-enlistees in July or August 1944, following the WAAC's conversion to WAC.

: Dorothy Farrington and friend in gas masks; Dorothy Farrington Gribble and a friend, identified humorously as Lena Horne, pose in bikini tops and shorts wearing their gas masks, circa 1944.

: Dorothy Farrington and friend in uniform; Dorothy Farrington Gribble and her friend Kay Craven pose in uniform on the steps of barracks in 1943. They jokingly raise their fists and Craven has slightly hiked her skirt.

: Dorothy Farrington at desk; Dorothy Farrington Gribble poses at desk with male co-worker Marty Katze at the 89th Headquarters at Bergstrom Field, Texas, where she worked as an administrative assistant in personnel.

: Dorothy Farrington driving jeep; Dorothy Farrington Gribble drives a military vehicle on base.

: Dorothy Farrington exiting plane; Dorothy Farrington Gribble poses in the doorway of an army airplane at Gergstron Airfield, Texas, in 1944 or 1945.

: Dorothy and Carter Farrington; Dorothy Farrington Gribble and her brother Henry Carter Farrington pose in their uniforms, displaying their stripes, while at home in North Carolina on leave. Dorothy holds a WAAC-issued purse. This is the last time they were together; Carter died in action in Africa on December 8, 1944.

: Group photo of WACs; The women in Dorothy Gribble's barracks pose on a sidewalk, 1944. Of the photo, Gribble says,"They did me 'the honor' of taking this picture."

: Oral history interview with Dorothy Farrington Gribble; Primarily documents Dorothy "Dottie" Farrington Gribble's military service in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1943 to 1945, particularly her time at Bergstrom Field in Texas, and her personal life and career after the war." Gribble primarily discusses WAAC basic training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, in early 1943, and her subsequent assignment as an administrative assistant in personnel at the 89th Headquarters of the air force at Bergstrom Field, Texas. She describes the environment for women in the headquarters, the reaction of the public to women in the military, and the social activities available while dating her future husband, Bill. Gribble includes many anecdotes concerning friends in the military, visiting her older brother at his base, and a complicated effort to catch military planes home to North Carolina and back to Texas. Other topics include the death of her younger brother in Africa while in the air force and Gribble's career in sales and travels following the war.

: Portrait of Dorothy Farrington Gribble; Formal photo of Dorothy Farrington Gribble, April 1943.

: WAACs march in parade; Women's Army Auxiliary Corps unit marches in parade, probably at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, in 1943.

: WAACs parade past barracks; A WAAC unit, lead by an all-male band, marches in a parade past barracks, probably at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, in 1943.

: WACs in mess hall; Dorothy Farrington Gribble serves food to a news reporter dressed in a WAC uniform at Bergstrom Field in Austin, Texas." Gribble was assigned to chaperone the reporter as she lived for two days as a WAC. The two are flanked by three other WACs at the base's mess hall buffet. The photo was included in a report for the Austin newspaper.

In collections

Women Veterans Historical Project

Dorothy Farrington Gribble Collection

In collections

Navigate

Sort your results

Narrow your results

Item type

Topics

Place

Decade

Veteran conflict/era

Veteran service branch

In collection

Contributed by