Release Men to Fight!/Serve in the WAAC
Artist
Karl Milroy
Printer
R&L Litho., Milwaukee
United States
Datec. 1942
MediumLithograph
Dimensions41 3/4 x 32 1/2 in. (106 x 82.6 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.7908
DescriptionIn the foreground of this recruitment poster for the Women’s [incorrectly styled “Woman’s” by the designer Karl Milroy] Auxiliary Army Corp (WAAC), the neatly coiffed head of a WAAC member gazes directly at the viewer with the determined expression characteristic of women in these posters; a man in uniform behind her actively handles a bayonet against an eye-catching, blood-red ground. By the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it was clear that women would be needed to assist in the war and there was increasing public pressure on the government to include women in the armed forces. On May 15, 1942, the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) was officially created as a branch of the U.S. Army “for the purpose of making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of women in the nation.” Like the other women’s service organizations during World War II, and as the poster indicates, it was intended to free up men for active military service. Members of the WAAC were initially trained as switchboard operators, mechanics, and bakers; later they were allowed to take on such exalted positions in the service of the nation as postal clerk, driver, and stenographer. On July 1, 1943, the organization was renamed the Women’s Auxiliary Corps (WAC) and became an active-duty branch of the army.On View
Not on view
