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A Reluctant Pioneer

In her oral history interview with Judith Kent in 2002, Gordon was humble about her entrance into the WAAC sixty years earlier.

“Well, I joined because my best friend Mildred Osby appeared at my house one day, all excited because she had either received information or had learned that there was going to be organized a Women's Army Corps. She wanted very much to be part of it; and, as we were very close friends she thought it would be wonderful if I also was interested and would do so. At that time, I was working in the state civil service, I was supervising a stenographic pool. I was not bored, but restless, and kind of stuck, I guess. But I wasn't that excited about entering into anything that sounded as regimented as the Army. So I didn't pick up on it initially. But she kept after me and after me and I finally said, “Well, okay.”” (Audio interview, 3:43)

What she does not mention in her interview is that she was accepted into the WAAC’s very first Officer Candidate School class. The graduates of this class were the first women to be inducted into the U.S. military in a role other than as nurses. She did, of course, recognize the historic significance of what she was taking part in:

“Of course there was a lot of—this was such a bold step in a way. One has to remember that at that time the Army was segregated, and number two there were nurses but there were no enlisted or women officers as an official part of the Army. And of course this would not be officially a part of the Army - it would be an auxiliary branch of the Army. There were pros and cons, but eventually I did give in and apply. And then having applied, I was sure that I would never pass all of this business. At that time I had completed two years of college. They were looking for—their goal was forty Negro women who would then form the officer corps that would train the subsequent enlisted women who came into the service.

And their standards, their expectations, and their hopes were high. They wanted forty professional women. I think that the minimum age was eighteen, and of course they preferred women who had not only the educational background but also some maturity and work experience, which would be an asset in embarking on an endeavor that was experimental and had a lot riding on it. So, as I started to say, I didn't really expect to be selected, but in the end I was, along with my friend. She was selected first and I think they must have gotten almost to the end of their group of women, because they never did reach the forty mark. I think that they had thirty-eight or thirty nine. I don't know if I was the thirty-eighth or thirty-ninth, but that is how it all began.” (Audio interview, 6:42)

Gordon and the other African American WAACs experienced the insult of segregation from the very beginning of their time in the military. That first WAAC class of officer candidates was divided into three platoons, with the African American women separated into the Third Platoon. They had segregated living facilities at Fort Des Moines, and many of the base’s facilities were declared either off-limits to them or only available at designated times. Gordon remembered how their sense of purpose enabled them to overcome the degrading treatment that accompanied the normal rigors of induction training into the military:

“I think that the thing that really sustained and enabled all of us was that underneath the adventurous aspect of it was a sense of duty; that it was our country, that we were at war and that there was a purpose to all of this. So, that there was excitement and fatigue. [laughing] In the beginning it was mostly fatigue because it was up at the crack of dawn and a day that just continued at such a pace until at Taps at night you were just exhausted. So that’s where the fact that we were all in our early twenties—the youngest person in our group from Chicago, Sara, was only about nineteen—all of that helped. It was the feeling, the sustaining feeling was that we were doing something purposeful that had value to it.” (Audio interview, 16:18)

Graduation from OCS brought with it an enormous feeling of pride and accomplishment, and Gordon remembered how the newly minted officers relished the 10-day furlough they received after training. They were able to go home and “show off these uniforms, be admired, and taken care of by all of our families and await our orders.”

One peculiarity that early WAAC officers had to contend with was the strange ranks and titles they were given in order to differentiate them from male officers. Upon graduating from OCS, they were commissioned as Third Officers rather than Second Lieutenants, and they earned promotions to Second Officer and First Officer rather than First Lieutenant and Captain. Although a WAAC Third Officer was considered the equivalent of a Second Lieutenant, they received less pay. These discrepancies built into the WAAC rank structure were discarded in 1943 when the WAAC was converted to the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).

Fort Huachuca

Violet Gordon’s first assignment after training was to be "Second Commanding Officer"—equivalent to executive officer—of the segregated 32nd Company. Together with the 33rd Company, this company was sent to Fort Huachuca, Arizona to assist the 92nd Infantry Division in their preparations and training for combat in the European Theater. Gordon remembered that the soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division gave them a warm welcome when they arrived at Fort Huachuca:

“The memorable thing about that dispatchment, being sent to Ft. Huachuca, was really the arrival - I don't think I'll ever forget that! The troop train took us to the boundaries of the camp. And of course the male units that were already there knew that we were coming. There was a lot of controversy about women in the service - a lot of rumors, most of them not really very complimentary.

So the curiosity, of course, impelled as many of the enlisted men that were available and free to view this arrival; to come out to meet this so-called "Women's Army." It was a little frightening in one sense, in that we were like engulfed and surrounded by all these men. But fortunately, the Army is usually prepared for most things, so the enlisted male units were not there without officers, who made sure that some kind of decorum and order was maintained.” (Audio interview, 22:40)

At Fort Huachuca, the WACs of the 32nd and 33rd Companies worked in support roles—as cooks, bakers, mechanics, drivers, and administrative personnel—intended to free up male soldiers within the 92nd Infantry Division to train and deploy in combat roles.

While Fort Huachuca has often been noted by Army veterans as a remote and desolate posting, Gordon remembers her time at Huachuca fondly—apart from the sandstorms:

“It never became dull, there was always some adventure around the corner. There was always the anticipation—after all Ft. Huachuca is between Arizona and California and the Rocky Mountains. And I remember the Christmas on which I looked out—and we had decorated a pine tree out in the center of the barracks area, and—I had come to Arizona from Chicago—I watched the needles as they turned brown and fell to the ground [laughing]. It was very weird! The other physical experience like that, which was more alarming, was a sand storm, which I had never experienced. Experienced? I was unaware of sandstorms! [laughing] It is unbelievable the way the sand just gets into everything. The wind and the sand—it was rather frightening.” (Audio interview, 33:00)

Europe with the 6888th

The sense of adventure that enabled Gordon to make the most of her time at Fort Huachuca also meant that she enjoyed her time in Europe to the fullest. While in Birmingham, England, she took advantage of the opportunity to attend free concerts and remembers the welcoming attitude of the locals:

“The townspeople—in Birmingham particularly—were so warm and receiving. When we had free time and went into town, and one of the things that I remember is that—I love music—and the churches would have twelve o'clock or one o'clock concerts. If you had free time on that particular day you could go into town to the concerts. That was just a wonderful reward.” (Audio interview, 45:10)

Gordon recalls the battalion’s time in Rouen as a more difficult time, due in part to cold weather they encountered there, but also due to the fact that the war seemed much more immediate in northern France:

“In Rouen you were just always aware of it. I think also that the prisoners of war made you constantly aware of the war - it was ever-present. And the cathedral at Rouen—of course that’s Joan of Arc—and that beautiful cathedral, which was damaged.” (Audio interview, 48:12)

But like other veterans of the 6888th, Gordon made the most of the opportunity to travel Europe that their assignment to France provided them.

“I remember going down to Biarritz…. the University of Biarritz. I went for two weeks and studied photography. And then there were recreational activities for the troops. Growing up, when I was in high school, I did track and played sports, basketball and stuff like that. We had a basketball team, and the team traveled to various parts and had tournaments and stuff like that. Always I think when we were about on the edge in terms of, “I don't think I can do much more,” something like this would become available. And the townspeople were really very supportive.” (Audio interview, 46:13)

“The final push in a very positive direction”

In Gordon's own words, she was “floundering” in her professional life before she joined the WAC. One of her classmates at Officer Candidates School was Irma Cayton, under whom she also served as second-in-command of the 32nd Company. Cayton was a social worker in civilian life, and her influence helped Gordon to realize that becoming a social worker was the career she wanted to pursue after the war. Gordon also discussed the impact on her professional and political career of having civil rights activist and American labor unionist A. Philip Randolph as a mentor:

“I doubt that I would have gone into social work if I had not had the interpersonal experience with Irma and a couple of other people who were also in the service and were moving in that direction. It drew my attention to a profession that I had really not considered up until that time. So, once having decided on that, I knew where I was headed.”

“The other thing of value is that I had had interesting group experiences, in that right after high school I had worked as a clerk for A. Philip Randolph. I don't know if the name means anything to you, but he was the one who organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labor union. He was ahead—in a sense—of the Martin Luther King era, in that the first march on Washington was organized by him.”

“The point of all this is that it enabled me to really see group activism, and to see that there could be a role in that for me, if this was something that I wanted to pursue. And it really formed my political and social point of view - the association, and the activity, and what not. So that I went from having gone to elementary and high school in Batavia, Illinois—which is a suburb of Chicago, a town of five thousand people—the development from there to the experiences that followed with the labor union movement, followed by movement into the WAC, which moved me then into both an administrative, as well as a command level. It enabled me to move away from being kind of a bucolic, somewhat shy, introspective person. I would say that the Army influence was like the final push in a very positive direction.” (Audio interview, 1:04:36)

Recognition at Last

When the Military Women’s Memorial was dedicated in 1997, Gordon traveled to Arlington, Virginia for the ceremony. What she saw touched and inspired her:

“When we went to Washington to the dedication of the Women's Memorial it was such an exciting, exhilarating moment! It’s one thing to see two WACs, it’s mind-boggling to see a whole amphitheater of women representing all branches of the service—which of course was not true at the time that the WAC was formed. And to see the range both in age and rank, because by and large those in attendance—certainly there were the retired and there were the women from World War II and subsequent wars, Vietnam and whatnot—but the bulk of them were women who were on active duty, in all branches of the service, representing all colors, all races, and all ranks. That was something that I would have never envisioned in 1942 - it was right there in front of me. It was really so exciting. The final touch was the fly over of the Air Force with women pilots! [laughing] It was a great moment - a great moment!” (Audio interview, 1:09:33)

Gordon passed away External in 2018 at the age of 101.