Lt Col Lois Catherine Jones, USAF Ret. Oral History Side A

title:

Lt Col Lois Catherine Jones, USAF Ret. Oral History Side A

creator:

Jones, Lois Catherine (1920 December 27 - 2010 October 6)

subject:

Women's Army Corps (WAC) | Air Force

description:

Side 1 of 2. Lois C. Jones was born on December 27, 1920 in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating from high school, she continued living in the house she grew up in until enlisting in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in November 1942. She was called to active duty in January 1943 and went to Daytona Beach, Florida for three months of basic training and administration school. From there, she was stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana, where she and the other WAACs were housed in the fort’s Japanese POW camp for four or five weeks before going to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. There, she was a part of the companies training to o overseas, since she joined the Army with the goal of doing so. After months of not knowing when they’d ship out, they crossed over the Atlantic Ocean. She was among women placing English women working as teletype operators, stenographers, and plotters for aircrafts at Markshall, locate about 60 miles from London, England. Women she worked with were sent across the English Channel in September 1944, but she didn’t go with them, instead going to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia for Officer Candidate School, which she finished in November 1944. She was assigned for a couple of months to Extended Field Service, training WACs who were themselves going overseas, including the 6888th Postal Battalion. After doing this for eight or nine months at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, she was assigned to Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC. Once World War II ended, Jones was one of the women selected to talk to other women in the service to try and convince them to stay in. She left the Army in 1947 and traveled, including some time back home. She then received a letter from the Fourth Army Headquarters about rejoining the service, so she went to Fort Sam Houston and discussed her options. She landed on joining the Air Force in 1947, entering as a 1st lieutenant. One of her jobs at this time was to go to Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas to find women to bring in as recruiters. She was then assigned to the Director of Communications and Electronics of the Air Force at the Pentagon. She stayed there for four years, then went to personnel school at Fort Scott. From there, she volunteered to go to Iceland and was there for a year before being assigned to Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado. She stayed there for over five years, retiring in November 1966. When she left the Army Jones had reached the rank of 1st sergeant, and when she left the Air Force she had the rank of lieutenant colonel. For her service, she was awarded an Air Force Commendation Medal, American Campaign Medal, Women’s Army Corps Service Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. She passed away in October 2010. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Weigand, Cindy

date:

2002-07-05

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

495; 2003.495

source:

Weigand | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

047014

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | Korean War (1950-1963) | Vietnam War (1964-1975) | 1942-47 | 1947-66

rights:

Unrestricted