Roberta Wooddell House and Nancy Wooddell Thornton 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/344
What's in the full collection?: Photographs of Roberta and Nancy as well as a few family photographs. The photographs also include publicity photographs of Roberta as a WAAC at Luke Field, Arizona and Chandler, Arizona. Folder two contains ten letters written by both Roberta and Nancy to their Mother, Aunt May, and Grandmother. These letters discuss general news, such as Nancy's reaction to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death, and updates on their lives in the military. There is also a two-disc voice recording which is a souvenir from the Empire State Building in New York City made by one of the sisters. Lastly, there are two postcards: one from Nancy when she was stationed at Fort Dix in New Jersey, and the second from Roberta during her basic training at Fort Des Moines in Iowa. Folder three contains four newspaper clippings that discuss Nancy's upcoming nupitals and service in the Army; two others are about Roberta's upcoming enlistement and acceptance to the WAAC officer training school; the last clipping is a photograph of Roberta with her fellow WAAC officer candidates.A group photograph of the 6th Company, 1st Regiment Officer Training Class at Fort Des Moines in 1942, and a 20 May 1944 copy of Wing Tips Mather Field; California Newsletter are in General Oversized box 1.
Full biography: Roberta Wooddell House (1915-?) was a graduate of Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, graduating on 5 June 1939 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Home Economics. After returning to California, Roberta worked as a personal training supervisor for Weinstock-Lubin before enlisting in the Women's Army Auxiiliary Corps (WAAC) as an officer candidate on 5 July 1942, despite being married to Joe House. Training began in Fort Des Moines, Iowa, on 3 August and she was eventually assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers in New York. Before her discharge she had been promoted to the rank of Captain, and continued to work for the Corps of Engineers as Chief of Civilian Personnel.. Nancy Wooddell Thornton (1916-2002) served in the United States Army Nurse Corps from 1941-circa 1944. Thornton graduated as a registered nurse from St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco and was the first of the sisters to join the Army Nurse Corps. She was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, and later that year was stationed in Fort Jay on Governors Island, New York, and then Fort Dix, New Jersey, before being sent to Panama for the next two years. She was then stationed with the European Theatre of Operations in Southern France until 1945. On V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day, occurring on 8 May 1945), she volunteered to serve in the Pacific Ocean Theatre of Operations; her final assignment taking place in Japan. She was awaiting discharge upon her marriage to Herbert Thornton on 6 April 1946. She died at age eighty-six on 15 November 2002 in Chestertown, Maryland.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Army -- WAAC
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

: Nancy Wooddell Thorton; Nancy Wooddell Thorton, perhaps in Panama, circa 1943. She wears the summer service uniform.

: Nancy Wooddell Thorton; Photograph of Nancy Wooddell Thorton, taken about January 1944, when "'Nan Dee returned from Panama," 1944. She wears the olive drab service uniform.

: Nancy Wooddell Thorton; Photograph of Nancy Wooddell Thorton, on left. Caption on back reads: Nandee in the far East and an Army Dr. both on duty, circa 1943. She wears the brown and white seersucker field hospital uniform.

: Post Card from Roberta Wooddell House to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Anderson; Roberta Wooddell House writes to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Anderson of Sacramento, California, expressing her feeling of inadequacy in meeting requirements and her desire for the WAACs "to be tops."

: Roberta Wooddell House; Headshot of W.A.A.C. officer Roberta Wooddell House, circa 1942.

: Roberta Wooddell House; Roberta Wooddell House, center, poses with another W.A.A.C. officer and people in Western wear for a publicity photograph, circa 1942.

: Roberta Wooddell House; Roberta Wooddell House, 7th from left, poses with another W.A.A.C. officer and people in Western wear for a publicity photograph, circa 1942.

: Roberta Wooddell House; Roberta Wooddell House stands at a microphone in front of the Williams Field Orchestra, circa 1942.

: Roberta Wooddell House; Roberta Wooddell House, standing in Jeep, poses with another W.A.A.C officer, a technical sergeant (driver) and a woman with a horse for a publicity photograph, circa 1942.

: Roberta Wooddell House; Formal portrait of Roberta Wooddell House, circa 1942. She wears a W.A.A.C. officer uniform.

: W.A.A.C. Information Booth; Roberta Wooddell House, second from right, poses with fellow W.A.A.C. officers and "W.A.A.C. volunteers" at a W.A.A.C. Information Booth, circa 1942.

: W.A.A.C. Officer Training Class, Fort Des Moines, Iowa; Group photograph of W.A.A.C. (Woman's Army Auxilary Corps) Officer Training Class, 6th Company, 1st Regiment, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 1942. Roberta Wooddell House, 5th row from front, 8th from left.

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Roberta Wooddell House and Nancy Wooddell Thornton Collection

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