Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a phenomenal WAAC grouping named to Ruth K. Tezuka, a member of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps from 1944-1945 during World War II. This grouping includes an extremely rare WAAC brassard and guidon featuring Pallas Athene, the official insignia of the Women’s Army Corps. This grouping came out of a museum and still has museum catalog numbers on most items in the group. WAAC was established "for the purpose of making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of women of the nation."

Ruth K. Tezuka was born in Tusla, Oklahoma in 1921. She joined the WAC on December 15th, 1944, at Camp Gruber Cookson Hills, Oklahoma, serial number A-817398. Due to the lack of records during and after WWII, not much could be found on Ruth outside of her enlistment and a few newspaper articles mentioning her joining the Women’s Army Corps, which has allowed us to fully identify this grouping.

Tezuka’s uniform bears the patch of the USAAF Technical Training Command. This makes sense, as many women of the WAAC were assigned to the USAAF to work as weather forecasters and observers, electrical specialists, sheet metal workers, link trainer instructors, control tower specialists, airplane mechanics, photo-laboratory technicians and photo interpreters.

The grouping includes:

-Ruth Tezuka’s Ike Jacket, with sergeant ranks on both sleeves, with a USAAF patch on the left sleeve, and USAAF Technical Training Command DIUs on the collar. R. Tezuka WAC is written on the interior, along with several museum catalog numbers.
-Tezuka’s skirt to be worn with her ike jacket, named R. Tezuka WAC on the interior. Has a very worn size tag that can barely read 16.
-Tezuka’s overseas cap, bearing a USAAF Technical Training Command DIU with Tezuka WAC written on the interior.
-Tezuka’s tan women’s fatigue hat.
-A yellow brassard bearing WAAC (Women’s Army Auxillary Corps) in green sewn letters.
-Pair of Tezuka’s HY-TEST POWDER SHOES with white-painted safety toes. Both laces are fully retained.
-Tezuka’s shirt with museum catalog numbers on the collar.
-Very RARE Yellow double-sided Guidon featuring the insignia of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, Palla Athene, Greek goddess of victory and womanly virtue. Measures 30x20”. In FANTASTIC condition with virtually no flaws. Worthy of its own frame to accompany the group!

Very small index-card sized sheet of written info on the group.

This is an absolutely phenomenal identified grouping to a woman who served her country during its darkest hour. WAAC groups do not come up often, so don’t miss out on this great group!

Approximate Measurements:
Jacket:
Collar to shoulder: 8"
Shoulder to sleeve: 23”
Shoulder to shoulder: 14”
Chest width: 16"
Waist width: 13"
Hip width: 13"
Front length: 18.5"

Shirt:
Collar to shoulder: 8.5"
Shoulder to sleeve: 21.5”
Shoulder to shoulder: 14”
Chest width: 17.5"
Waist width: 15"
Hip width: 15"
Front length: 27.5"

Pants:
Waist: 12.5"
Length: 23.5"

History of the WAAC

With war looming, U.S. Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced a bill for the creation of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in May 1941. Having been a witness to the status of women in World War I, Rogers vowed that if American women served in support of the Army, they would do so with all the rights and benefits afforded to Soldiers.

Spurred on by the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Congress approved the creation of WAAC on May 14, 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law on May 15, and on May 16, Oveta Culp Hobby was sworn in as the first director. WAAC was established "for the purpose of making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of women of the nation."

Hobby immediately began organizing the WAAC recruiting drive and training centers. Fort Des Moines, Iowa, was selected as the site of the first WAAC Training Center. Over 35,000 women from all over the country applied for less than 1,000 anticipated positions.

The first women arrived at the first WAAC Training Center at Fort Des Moines on July 20, 1942. Among them were 125 enlisted women and 440 officer candidates (40 of whom were black), who had been selected to attend the WAAC Officer Candidate School, or OCS. Their arrival and subsequent training brought considerable public interest surrounding civil rights, as this corps presented the biggest opportunity to test integration in the Army. After OCS, black officers and white officers were segregated.

After training, the WAAC officer or enlisted person was assigned to a 150-woman table of organization company, which only had spaces for clerks, typists, drivers, cooks and unit cadre. Women primarily worked in four fields: baking, clerical, driving and medical. Within one year of the WAAC establishment, over 400 jobs were open to women.

Since to the WAAC law did not women an integral part of the Army, they could not be governed by Army regulations or the Articles of War. Stateside, enlisted women and men received the same basic rate of pay. However, women could not receive overseas pay and were ineligible for government life insurance. If they were killed, their parents could not collect the death gratuity.

In the beginning, WAAC exceeded all its recruiting goals, but by June 1943, recruiting efforts had fallen. Higher paying jobs in civilian industry, unequal benefits with men, and attitudes within the Army itself - which had existed as an overwhelmingly male institution from the beginning - were factors.

In January 1943, U.S. Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced identical bills in both houses of Congress to permit the enlistment and commissioning of women in the Army of the United States, or Reserve forces, as opposed to regular enlistments in the U.S. Army. This would drop the "auxiliary" status of the WAAC and allow women to serve overseas and "free a man to fight."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the legislation on July 1, 1943, which changed the name of the Corps to the Women's Army Corps (WAC) and made it part of the Army of the United States. This gave women all of the rank, privileges, and benefits of their male counterparts.

Women were recruited from all 50 states and territories. A WAC recruiting campaign on the island of Puerto Rico resulted in 200 women being selected out of a pool of 1500. Entrance requirements were rigorous, with each woman required to pass an exam that was entirely in English. Those selected represented many professions: teachers, office workers, translators and even a lawyer.

Women's Army Corps also recruited Nisei women, or second-generation Japanese-American women. Several hundred were selected, and a number of these trained in linguistics at the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Other Nisei WACs received more traditional training in clerical, medical, and supply positions. Eventually, some Nisei WACs found themselves serving as translators and officer workers at Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Tokyo.

During World War II, members of WAC were assigned to the Army Air Forces, Army Ground Forces, and the Army Service Forces - comprised of nine service commands, the Military District of Washington and the Technical Services. At first, job opportunities were limited, but soon wide arrays of positions were available to women.

Victory in Europe was proclaimed when German Col. Gen. Alfred Jodl, of the German High Command, signed the terms of an unconditional surrender in Reims, France, May 7, 1945. Similarly, Victory in Japan was proclaimed on Sept. 2, 1945, to celebrate Japan's acceptance of unconditional surrender terms that occurred on Aug. 14, 1945.

After the war, WAACs had no legal re-employment rights, no peacetime component or even an inactive Reserve. Without these rights, jobs for women would be scarce in peacetime. For this reason, Hobby favored disbanding the WAC as soon as the war ended. Congress provided re-employment rights for WAACs and WACs on Aug. 9, 1946.