Sunday, April 20, 2008 10:56 PM CDT
Area women who served in WWII recall days of war
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-ct.com
CHARLESTON — Although it was more than 60 years ago, Mary E. Farris vividly recalls her time in uniform during World War II.
Her memories of June 6, 1944, in England — where she was serving with the U.S. Army Surgeon General’s office — are particularly detailed.
“On D-Day early in the morning, you could hear all these planes flying south,” Farris told a captivated audience at Eastern Illinois University’s Booth Library on Sunday.
She paused for about five seconds, then continued, albeit a little more deliberately and tearfully: “In the afternoon, they came back ... beat up.”
Three months later, when the surgeon general’s headquarters were moved to France, Farris climbed a hill at Omaha Beach where so many soldiers died during the Normandy invasion.
While much has been made over the last six decades of the American men who fought in WWII, the importance of servicewomen like Farris often has been overlooked, said organizers of the new “Women of Valor” exhibit at the EIU library. On Sunday, six of these women shared stories of their experiences in WWII — tales of sacrifices and hardship, but also of humor and joy.
The exhibit will be on display in the Booth Library main foyer through the end of April. It was assembled by Jeff Boshart, art professor, and Dan Crews, of the Arts and Humanities Publicity Office, both of whom said they hope to see the number of photos, uniforms and other memorabilia grow as “Women of Valor” becomes a traveling exhibit to other area libraries over the coming months.
The exhibit is meant to “encourage women today that women (in WWII) set the stage for a lot of things they have to be grateful for today,” said Boshart, whose mother was part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).
“Women of Valor” was installed in connection with Women’s History Awareness Month.
Crews said about 400,000 women served during WWII and recognition “is due for these ladies.”
The following area residents were panelists Sunday afternoon at the library:
-- June Cardell Cooper, 89, of Charleston joined the Coast Guard’s SPARS division. Some of her duties included answering the phone and room inspections.
-- Ethel Cline, 86, of West Union served with the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and its predecessor, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). She worked in the payroll section at Fort Benning, Ga.
-- Valerie Endsley, 85, of Casey, was with the WAC. Because of her emergency room experience prior to the war, Endsley was assigned to the Army medical corps in Battle Creek, Mich. — in the same state where she was raised.
“I really wanted to travel, but I was from Michigan and they sent me right back there,” she said jokingly.
Near the end of the war, she helped amputees, paraplegics and quadriplegics returning from overseas. “We encouraged them as best we could,” she said.
“A lot of them were only 19- or 20-year-old boys.”
-- Georgia Manes, 86, of Mattoon served with both the WAC and WAAC. It is believed she was the first Coles County woman to enlist in the corps.
Manes was stationed at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, where she worked in the motor pool. Manes acted as a chauffeur to and from Salt Lake City, about 85 miles away.
She said the Army developed chemical weapons at Dugway. Manes recalled how prisoners with life sentences volunteered for human testing.
“If they got out of it alive, they didn’t have to go back to jail,” she said. “I saw it happen.”
Manes also remembered the presence of German prisoners of war, many of whom stared in disbelief at her auburn hair. “They’d never seen a redheaded woman,” she said.
-- Connie Richardson, 86, of Marshall belonged to the WAC. She was stationed in England, Germany and France, where she met her husband of almost 63 years. Richardson said her late husband occasionally was asked if he married a “war bride.”
“No, she’s from Michigan,” he would reply.
Richardson said some of her most memorable experiences were riding in a glider and in an airplane with an open cockpit (the pilot took the opportunity to execute a few barrel rolls, she said).
-- Farris, 89, of rural Dennison also was a member of the WAC.
While stationed in France, Farris was responsible for dispatching ambulances following the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. “It was not a good December,” she said.
Farris also was on a team that “located sites for hospitals and established them,” she said.
She remembered being strafed by gunfire while helping load a medical train.
Prior to enlisting, she worked at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and she returned there after the war. Her office was on the ground floor of the section of the Pentagon damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Thankfully, she had retired in 1982.
All of the panelists were in their early- to mid-20s when they enlisted. Several of the women’s fathers initially opposed their joining the military, but eventually relented.
Cooper said, “My father was glad: He didn’t have any sons, but he could still put a flag on a window.”
Some met with sexism from male soldiers, but others witnessed no discrimination.
Manes said most of the negativity she experienced came from men who were being shipped overseas. “We were relieving them,” she said.
“They made fun of us; they tried to get us into trouble.”
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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katbob118 wrote on Apr 21, 2008 10:38 AM: