A LIFE THAT MATTERS Dorothy Johnston, Army Corps 1942-1946 Dorothy Johnston was born on January 18, 1915 and will be celebrating her 100th birthday next year. She attended and graduated Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, an all women’s college founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist female seminary by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles. During the onset of WWII, Dorothy along with many of her classmates signed up after chapel talks about the military. Her assignment as Private First Class was with a transfer with the U.S. Army housed post office in England. Her group sorted the mail destined for the European Theater Operations. They organized the letters by unit number. I imagined that all of my 101st Airborne father’s wartime letters passed through their hands before making their way to him in the field… Each woman chose one letter of the alphabet to be responsible for. Dorothy chose the letter “V” thinking it would have the least amount of names. Was she ever wrong! Her miscalculations ended up with her having one of the largest groups of mail to be sorted. Since she was the eldest of the women and had more experience, the girls nicknamed her “Aristotle.” They often flocked to her seeking answers. After England, they were sent to France to perform the same duties. Army Service Forces received 40 percent of the WAACs for training in Transportation, Chemical Warfare, Quartermaster Corps., Signal Corps. and Medical Departments. Some of the women assigned to the Ordnance Department computed the velocity of bullets, measured bomb fragments, mixed gunpowder, and loaded shells. Others worked as draftsmen, mechanics, and electricians, and some received training in ordnance engineering. Later in the war, women were trained to replace men as radio operators on U.S. Army hospital ships. Dorothy remembers however that many men were not happy with the women taking their jobs and felt threatened at the time. The Larkspur, the Charles A. Stafford, and the Blanche F. Sigman each received three enlisted women and one officer near the end of 1944. This experiment proved successful, and the assignment of female secretaries and clerical workers to hospital ships occurred soon after. After returning from the war, Dorothy resumed her life at the prestigious Spelman College and became the assistant to the head librarian. I had the good fortune of meeting Dorothy at the Museum of Military History in Kissimmee, Florida. She is a local resident and attended the Comes A Soldier’s Whisper book event and exhibit last month. She proudly displays her Comes A Soldier’s Whisper cap. Dorothy is very proud of her service and stays very active in her neighborhood and exercises daily on her 3-wheel bicycle! Ms. Dorothy Johnston is shown in a newspaper photo receiving her new trike (after hers was stolen) from Veterans Clubs, Rotary Club of Celebration Celebrators Club & Roger, and Evolve Bicycles in Celebration, FL. Let us celebrate this wonderful lady who served her country and continues to inspire all who know her. Comes A Soldier’s Whisper remembering history and our veterans, one day at a time. WATCH & SHARE MILITARY MUSEUM TRIBUTE: youtu.be/EJ1H9N-gIU0 comesasoldierswhisper Archive Photo/Text Portion Source: history.army.mil/brochures/WAC/WAC.HTM
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 12:21:32 +0000
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