CPT Emily M. Gray Oral History

title:

CPT Emily M. Gray Oral History

creator:

Gray, Emily M. (1913 November 26 - )

subject:

Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) | Women's Army Corps (WAC)

description:

Dr. Emily Gray was born on November 26, 1913 in Sergeant’s Bluff, Iowa; a small farming community of about 500 people. She was the youngest of 5 children, with three brothers and one sister. She graduated high school in 1931 at the start of the Depression. Her aunt convinced a wealthy relative she’d never met to pay for her to go to college in Beloit, Wisconsin, where she majored in chemistry. For the first year after graduation she struggled to find a job, so she went to school to become a comptometer operator (precursor to computers) and went to South Dakota to work for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. She found the work incredibly boring, so in 1939 she went back to school in Wisconsin to become a medical technologist. After graduation she worked at the University of Wisconsin General Hospital for two years. When World War II started and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was established, she applied and was accepted into the 5th Officer’s Training Class in August 1942. Her first assignment was at Fort Sheridan in Chicago, Illinois as a Mess and Supply Officer to a WAAC company. Because the company she was meant to lead was held up waiting for uniforms, she had a variety of jobs in the meantime. She set up company barracks, worked with engineers, and prepared for the arrival of new soldiers. For a time, she worked different jobs for the Sixth Area Service Command. This included interviews, public speaking, escorting AWOL soldiers, and serving food in the cafeteria. After becoming the Women’s Army Corps in 1943, the role of lab technician was open to WACs and Gray received her orders for a six week course at Army Laboratory School at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. She was then assigned to Vaughn General Hospital in Chicago as a bacteriologist. While there, she also sat in on the court cases for AWOL WAC soldiers. At the end of the war, she was promoted to captain, but she had difficulty leaving the Army because they had no one to replace her. She finally left the Army in 1946. Assisted by the GI Bill, she attended medical school at the University of Wisconsin. Upon graduation, she started as a general practitioner, eventually moving back into pathology since she didn’t want to deal with night-time emergencies. After living in several different cities, she moved to Houston, Texas in 1958 and ran a practice until her retirement in 1978. After retiring from medicine, she continued taking night courses, got her real estate license, worked in a fabric store, and was part of a recreational dance group. When Gray left the service, she had reached the rank of captain, and for her service she was awarded a Women’s Army Corps Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Bellafaire, Judy

date:

2004-01-29

type:

Audio

format:

CD

identifier:

364; 2004.364

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

362776

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1942-45

rights:

Unrestricted