Elaine Agnes Anderson Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Most of this collection has been digitized. Some items have not beed digitized due to copyright or other logistical issues.
What's in the full collection?: 13 December 2000 oral history transcript; photographs of Elaine during her services as a WAC in Germany 1949-1952; military payment certificates in five and ten cent denominations.
Full biography: Elaine A. Anderson (1926-2016) of Galesville, Wisconsin, served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1949 to 1952, and in the United States Army Reserves from 1958 to 1968. She had a long career in finance with the Pelton & Crane Company. Elaine A. Anderson was born in Galesville, Wisconsin, in 1926 and graduated from high school there in 1944. In later 1944 she moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Casualty Department, where she typed letters of notification for the families of wounded, missing, and dead soldiers. She returned to Galesville in 1945 and worked in retail for four years. Anderson enlisted in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in June of 1949. After basic training in Fort Lee, Virginia, she attended finance school in St. Louis, Missouri. She was assigned to the Army Chemical Center near Baltimore, Maryland, where she worked in the payroll department. In 1950 she was stationed in Bremerhaven, Germany, where she eventually became head of the payroll department. She was discharged soon after returning to the United States in October of 1952, with a final rank of staff sergeant. Anderson worked briefly as an accountant in Wisconsin and at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida before settling in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she took a job with Pelton and Crane dental equipment company. She joined the United States Army Reserves in 1958 and remained in for the next ten years. Anderson retired from Pelton and Crane in 1990 after over thirty years with the company, and stayed active in the American Legion.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Army -- WAC
Army
Conflict: Post World War II, Korea (1947-1963)
Subject headings: Korean War, 1950-1953
United States. Army--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Elaine Agnes Anderson in Germany, circa 1950; Elaine Agnes Anderson poses on a street in Germany, circa 1950.

: Elaine Anderson and WAC in Germany; Elaine A. Anderson (left) and a fellow WAC pose outside barracks in Germany, circa 1950.

: Elaine Anderson in Germany; Elaine A. Anderson perches on a wall outside a building in Germany, circa 1950.

: Elaine Anderson in Germany; Elaine A. Anderson stands outside Harnack House Annex B near Berlin, Germany, circa 1950, wearing a WAC twill utility overcoat and holding gloves.

: Oral history interview with Elaine Anderson; Primarily documents Elaine A. Anderson's time in the WAC (Women's Army Corps) and her personal life before and after her service. Personal topics from Anderson's life before military service include: details of her hometown; her brother's service in the army during WWII; memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor and WWII; her job with the Casualty Department in Washington, D.C.; and Franklin D. Roosevelt's death. " Anderson recounts her reason for enlisting in the WAC and her brother's negative response. Of her time in basic training she recalls wearing a uniform for the first time and meeting women from other parts of the country. She mentions the barracks and social activities during her time in finance school in St. Louis, Missouri. Details of her time in Germany include: being transferred overseas to free a man for the Korean Conflict; living in the country during post-WWII occupation; traveling through the Russian sector to Berlin; the devastation in the country; a German friend; working in the payroll department; rifle training; being escorted by an armed man when changing money on ships; and the relationship between servicemen and WACs. Other service topics include the difficulty for women to rise in rank and memorable songs. " Other topics include: her struggle to find enjoyable work; joining the army reserves; turning down a commission during the Cuban Missile Crisis; being a reserve during the Vietnam conflict; travel; problems with the Veterans Administration; and working as the head of the Women's Legion in Charlotte, North Carolina.

: Three WACs on bivouac in Germany; Three WACs sit in the woods while on bivouac in Germany, circa 1950. They have field uniforms, helmets, and canvas field bags; a military vehicle can be seen in the background.

: Two WACs in chairs aboard ship; Elaine Agnes Anderson (right) and a fellow WAC sit in wooden lounge chairs on the deck of a ship headed to Europe, circa 1950. Anderson wears a twill utility overcoat and hood.

: WACs and airmen at NCO club; Elaine Agnes Anderson (center) and a fellow servicewoman are seated at a table in an NCO club in Germany with six Air Force enlistees, circa 1950.

: WACs in pajamas; WACs in pajamas sit on a bunk bed in the barracks at Fort Lee, Virginia, during basic training, circa 1949.

: WACs on bivouac in Germany; Seven WACs, including Elaine A. Anderson (3rd from left) stand in the woods among their tents while on bivouac in Germany, circa 1950.