Introduction
American women in World War II became engaged in numerous missions that they had not previously performed. Since war encompassed global conflict on an unintended scale, a significant mobilization of the entire population rendered an expanded role for women unavoidable. Their services were recruited through various methods, including mailers and other printed advertisements, and popular songs. At the same time, women played an essential role in the war, reducing the gap in the industrial labor force. More than 350,000 women operated in the U.S. Army during World War II, both in the United States and abroad. Hence, the importance of the role and objectives of American women in World War II should be investigated.
Work in the Community
It is significant to mention that after the mobilization of the male segment of the population, women were exposed to new roles that were formerly unavailable to them. Women learned new professions and abilities; for example, they attended courses to learn how to drive vehicles. This was essential not only to provide transportation for civilians but also to deliver food to the war zone. In general, ninety million American women filled vacant jobs in U.S. war factories and transportation, agriculture, and office work of all varieties. Moreover, during the war, females were included in senior administrative positions and the federal government. It should also be marked that women living in the United States made necessary goods, clothing, food, and medicine, which were distributed to the soldiers. It should also be underlined that female soldiers actively donated blood to save wounded soldiers who were transported from the battlefield. Indeed, women worked primarily as doctors and nurses who treated and cared for sick soldiers.
It is important to note that many women worked as military doctors and nurses in addition to providing a stable home front and treating soldiers on U.S. soil. More than 60,000 Army nurses served in the U.S. Army, although they were often captured by the enemy and made military prisoners of war. For example, nurses who moved from battlefields where they helped the wounded were at risk. Five were recaptured by the Japanese on the island of Guam and held as prisoners of war for five months before being exchanged. In 1943, Dr. Hat Craighill became the first woman physician commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. The U.S. Public Health Service established a cadet nursing corps that trained some 125,000 women for possible military service. Eight percent of them finally provided medical care in U.S. hospitals. Women were also employed in industries such as the metalworking industry, steelworks, and automobile manufacturing industry. In addition, females worked in factories that produced bombs, weapons, and airplanes. Thus, during the war, females provided a reliable rear and the American economy.
The Women are Involved in Espionage
To conduct combat operations, it was precious to obtain information about the state of troops and the enemy’s plans. Four American scouts were the Lame Lady, the White Mouse, the lovely Odette, and the eternally young Violetta. They participated in preparations for the largest amphibious landing operation in world history, Operation Neptune. The Allied landings in Normandy, also known as D-Day, occurred on June 6, 1944. Among the many organizations involved in its preparation was the British Special Operations Command (SOC). Established by Winston Churchill in 1940, his secret army was created to commit sabotage and subversion to weaken the German invaders. However, two years after its formation, the UDF’s Baker Street headquarters could not boast of achieving its goals. Sarah Rose writes that in 1942 the Allied forces were in defeat. The German assault appeared impossible to stop, and all the men capable of holding arms were already at the front. Thus the USO leadership required a practical and, most significantly, unexpected solution for the enemy, which could assist in changing the situation.
The female spies were the obvious solution: brave, determined, fearless, and, most crucially, invisible to the enemy. At first, the Germans saw no danger in the girls, searched them seldom, and allowed them to move relatively freely through the occupied territories. Captain Selwyn Jepson suggested that women be included in the agent network, but the idea was not widely supported. However, later, Churchill personally empowered the captain to train female spies, unprecedented for his rank. Jepson noted that women did their jobs much better than men because they were psychologically adapted to working behind enemy lines. Almost all female scouts, according to Jepson, shared hatred of Nazism. They were willing and ready to do anything to complete the mission successfully. When they joined the USO, many of the girls were no more than 25 years old. Each had dreams and plans; some had managed to marry and have children, some had to flee the German occupation when they were still young. In this way, the war changed their lives, and they contributed to turning the war’s course.
Women in the Air Force and Army
The women were also counted in the number of service members and nurses serving on the front lines. About four hundred thousand American females served in the armed forces during World War II. About 350,000 women served in the Women’s Army Corps and the Navy Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). A total of five hundred and forty-three females died during the war, including sixty who were killed by fire. However, American political and military leaders decided not to use women in combat because they supported public opinion. President Harry Truman signed the Women’s Armed Forces Integration Act on June 12, 1948, allowing women to become integral members of the armed forces in peacetime and wartime. American women also participated in defense of the native front.
In addition to the number of women serving in the federal army, an extensive range of females joined the various state guards organized by individual U.S. states and in part by the War Department to replace the National Guard. In September 1942, the Idaho State Guard became the first state-level military organization in the United States to introduce women into its command structure when Governor Chase A. Clark swore an oath of subordination to a group of female members of the Idaho Volunteer Reserves. In 1943, Davenport organized a unit composed entirely of women and girls and members trained in first aid, radio code, self-defense, intelligence, and patrolling. During World War II, American female pilots were preparing to fly outside combat zones to replace the men who had departed to the front.
This group was called WASP, Women Air Force Pilots. Newspapers in the U.S. reported disturbing news at a difficult time, and American females were not indifferent. Those who could fly the plane applied to assist the country. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Public Act 689 to develop the Navy’s Ladies’ Reserve Program on July 30, 1942. In 1943, the Women Pilots Association, or WASP, was created; its members were not part of the U.S. armed forces, staying as civilian employees. Out of 25,000 applications, 1,800 were accepted, and of these, only 1,000 women were further selected. These qualified pilots were the first female pilots to fly U.S. military aircraft. They flew from airfields at 126 bases across the United States to logistically transport fifty percent of the combat aircraft during the war. One of them was Bernice Gowdy expressing, “we flew at night, too, for spotters to practice, we towed targets that were shot at with live ammunition. I think it was one of the most dangerous jobs”. In addition, thirty-eight female pilots died in the performance of their duty. Hence, females executed important military missions that contributed to winning the war.
The Manhattan Project
It is essential to mention that several hundred women were recruited from colleges to participate in the Manhattan Atomic Bomb Project during World War II. On August 13, 1942, the headquarters of the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, codenamed the Manhattan Engineering District, was formed in New York City. Its primary objective was to produce nuclear weapons. Women worked as engineers, technicians, and mathematicians throughout the project, but females could not hold leadership positions. It should be emphasized that Leona Woods was the only woman working at the Hanford site who assisted John Wheeler in determining the reason for the reactor shutdown in xenon poisoning.
Along with Leona Woods, Jiang-Shung Wu helped identify the cause of the Hanford reactor toxicity. Wu also disproved the law of parity in a nuclear physics experiment known as the Wu Experiment. Maria Geppert Maye was another accomplished woman who worked to strengthen the U.S. military. She developed a theory of nuclear envelope structure and investigated the thermodynamic properties of uranium, which made it possible to separate its isotopes U-238 and U-235 in the process of gas diffusion. At the same time, Isabella Carle was a chemist at Hanford who succeeded in synthesizing plutonium chloride from plutonium oxide; this work was crucial because the plutonium isotopes were isolated next to uranium. In this way, females were also developing nuclear weapons to privilege the U.S. military.
Conclusion
Therefore, the contribution of American women to the victory in World War II is difficult to overestimate. They provided a reliable rear, supported the economy, and produced essential goods and even machinery. At the same time, many females offered medical care to men wounded at the front and earned the title of military medic. Although women were directly involved in military operations, specifically in the navy, in guarding the borders of the United States, they proved to be talented aviators. It is significant to mention that females even obtained valuable information from the enemy through espionage in order to change the course of the war. At the same time, women also worked to develop nuclear weapons in order to enhance the nation’s armament. Accordingly, women’s missions during World War II were multifaceted but extremely crucial to victory.
References
Angelini, Eileen. 2020. “D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II by Sarah Rose.” The French Review 94 (2): 249-250. Web.
Committee on Military Affairs.1942. Naval Reserve Act. Public Law No. 689. Web.
Jeffries, John. 2018. Wartime America: The World War II Home Front. London: Rowman & Littlefield.
Maddox, Robert. 2018.The United States and World War II. New York: Routledge.
Merryman, Molly.2020. Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II. New York: New York University Press.
The U.S. Department of Energy. 1939. Manhattan Project. Web.
U.S. Congress.1948. The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act. Public Law No. 625. Web.