WHY WE HAVE A WAAC In March 1941, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall wrote, “We must plan for every possible contingency, and certainly must provide some outlet for the patriotic desires of our women.”

Attention, #ElizebethSmithFriedman fans!
New @USPS stamp honors women cryptologists of #WWII.
The press release:
This stamp honors all the women cryptologists of World War II. One of the conflict’s best-kept secrets, their service played an inestimable role in the Allied victory. The stamp art features an image from a World War II-era recruitment poster for the U.S. Navy’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, whose members were known as WAVES.

Feb. 2
Charity Adams Earley (left), from SC, interrupted her studies for a master degree in psychology to join the WAAC, and was the first African-American woman to be commissioned. She attended the first WAAC officers training at Ft. DesMoines, IA, in July 1942. Maj. Adams led the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion as they worked in England and France during #WWII.
Her path was not easy; there were many in the military who questioned the actuality of a black female officer.

#WednesdayWisdom
From a 1942 letter to @USNationalGuard Maj. Gen. Roy Keehn, whom Marshall had known while working with the Guard in Illinois.
There was upset over the perception that Guard officers were being shorted promotions and opportunities given to Regular Army officers. Marshall commented that officers serving with their local units showed an "unwillingness of the senior officers to handle the inefficient men. This is a most difficult and embarrassing duty, but it is a high command responsibility and one that I have with me every day.