Explore Virginia stories during Women’s History Month. On this day in 1944, the first mother and daughter team to enlist in the Women's Army Corps at the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation—Private Mary Harms (left) and her daughter, Private Margaret L. Harms—were photographed in Newport News, by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
During World War II, the WAC (Women's Army Corps of the U.S. Army) served both at home and overseas. Originally created in 1942 as an auxiliary unit called the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), the organization proved unwieldy and in 1943 women received full military status as WACs. The first women other than nurses to work in the Army, WACs were not deployed in combat. In 1978 the WAC was abolished when women were integrated into the regular Army.
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