Posted on 03/01/2004 1:23:48 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA - When Mary Ellen Edwards arrived at Fort Huachuca in 1959, the post had been re-opened for four years and the then Army first lieutenant had a special mission - establish a Women's Army Corps Detachment.
Mary Ellen, a first sergeant, a supply sergeant, a training noncommissioned officer, a company clerk and four other NCOs were tasked with setting up the organization of uniformed women.
"The girls" were given half of what is called the "Million Dollar Barracks," a facility that got its nickname because it cost that much to build in the late 1930.
The other half of the building was under control of a male company commander.
"And thank God he had the chow hall. I don't think I could have handled that at the same time (as setting up the detachment)," she said.
Now 76, Mary Ellen lives in an apartment in the Prestige Assisted Living at Sierra Vista, which takes care of her health needs while allowing her a large degree of independence. She is planning a barge trip on the Mississippi River with some friends this year.
It's a type of independence she didn't experience in the military.
"I was told I would have the cream of the crop (of WACs)," Mary Ellen said of when she arrived on Fort Huachuca to start her job. "But some of the posts didn't know what cream of the crop meant."
Even within the female soldiers, there was a degree of separation. Female nurses who had their own corps, but the female medics and hospital staff were WACs and under her control. And the WACs who worked at the post hospital reported to the chief nurse and the WAC detachment commander, which could lead to some confusion.
Mary Ellen entered the Army in 1957 after earning a master's degree from the University of Idaho.
At first, her mother didn't accept the fact she was a soldier. Her mother would tell friends she was doing some kind of government recreation work.
It wasn't until after her parents visited her at Fort Huachuca and saw what her job entailed that her mother then began telling people she was in the Army.
At first, she lived in the nurses quarters. When one-bedroom houses on the post became available, she and other single soldiers - men and women - moved into the quarters because they were too small for soldiers with families.
When the WACs existed - the organization was disbanded in 1972 - women were not part of a male soldier's unit, except when they worked at a company or other organization.
Things have changed since 1972. Women are assigned to a unit with men. Women also are commanders over men, and women are senior noncommissioned officers with male soldiers part of their responsibility.
Except for basic training, women and men train together today.
In the days of the WACs, "women trained women and women disciplined women," Mary Ellen said.
With a laugh, she remembered when a male company commander had women assigned to him after the WAC breakup. The commander said he didn't know who to handle discipline who would start crying.
"I told him to hand her a Kleenex, let her cry and then discipline her," she said.
In the days of the "petticoat channels," as she called the WAC system, crying women were not let off too easily by other women, Mary Ellen said.
But in 1972, the WAC world came to an end. She said it was a hard day when she had to take off her Pallas Athena, the symbol of the Women's Army Corps, and put on the ordnance insignia because that was the type of unit she was assigned to after the disbanding of the organization.
Pallas, which stands for maiden, Athena is the Greek goddess of both war and wisdom.
Mary Ellen said it was the proper insignia for WACs.
In her 15 years as a WAC, Mary Ellen had many assignments where she recruited women for the Army. One assignment in Chicago was an office responsible for recruiting women in 11 states, she said.
She had a couple of assignments at Fort McClellan, Ala., including her last one from which she retired from the Army in 1977. The Alabama post is considered the home of the WAC, and there is a museum to the women there.
By then Mary Ellen had climbed through the officers' ranks, making colonel.
On the day she retired, she was honored by a parade of the last class of college women who had trained together in what turned out to be the last such class of women trained in the summer before returning to their schools.
Women have more than proven their value to the Army over the years, Mary Ellen said.
Within her hearts of hearts, there is still a desire for a Women's Army Corps.
"There has been quite a metamorphosis," she said. "Today's woman (soldier) has had the benefit of the trials and tribulations of those of us who went before them."
But there is still a long way to go.
"We are still not equal to men," Mary Ellen said. "It will take a few more generations before that (inequality) is gone."
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