Responsibilities
Women took on many new responsibilities during World War II. Their opportunities expanded from nursing to include teaching soldiers, testing vehicles and airplanes, doing clerical work, rigging parachutes, serving as laboratory technicians and radio operators, along with many others.
"By the end of the war, there were few noncombatant jobs in which women did not serve, including positions that hadn't even existed when the war began- positions brought about by scientific and technological advances to aid the war effort. They were in every service branch and were assigned to every combat theater." - Judith Bellafaire, Historian |
|
|
As a citizen, it was a woman's responsibility to serve her country during wartime. It was also the responsibility of Congress to allow women to serve in the military and expand their fields of service. |
"At first I went to boot camp in Camp LeJune, NC and lived in Henderson Hall / Marine barracks for women. Then I worked as a clerk in Washington, D.C. When the war was over, I got a plum job in NYC at Penn Station, where I gave out directions for veterans coming back for them to get home. "
- Sgt. Elizabeth (Pidgeon) Murphy, U.S. Marine
- Sgt. Elizabeth (Pidgeon) Murphy, U.S. Marine