PFC Betty J. Clover Oral History

title:

PFC Betty J. Clover Oral History

creator:

Clover, Betty (Cooper) (1927 April 6 - )

subject:

Women's Army Corps (WAC)

description:

Betty Clover was born on April 6, 1927 in St. Louis, Missouri. She enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1950 but still isn’t quite sure why, other than the desire to work and travel, and being able to do both on the Army’s dime. She went to basic training at Fort Lee, Virginia. She enjoyed basic training, and remembers taking care of the younger women who were there. Once, one of the 18-year-olds was crying because their captain had been calling all women in the service whores, and she said she wanted to tell on him to her father. Clover comforted her, and off-handedly said she should if she wanted to. The next day her father actually showed up, and he was a two-star general, and hey never saw that captain again. She loved the camaraderie and food at basic, and the men were generally nice to them. After basic, she went to Medical Technician School at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. She married her husband, who she had been away from for a while since he was in the Navy, while at Fort Sam Houston. After finishing training at Fort Sam Houston, she was stationed in Washington state (likely Fort Lewis), where she also had her first child. She talked about getting out of the Army after having her first son, but she thinks they must’ve been short on women because they kept asking her to come and do clerical work. She did leave the Army when she was pregnant with her second son, and she and her first husband went to St. Louis. Her husband would disappear for weeks at a time, and she had met another man, so she divorced her first husband and married her second husband soon after. She thinks that her service made her more tolerant of people, because she could see everyone of all types dealing with their own problems in the same space. Two of her sons became Marines, one was Army, and one of her grandsons became a Navy SEAL. When she left the service in 1953, Clover had reached the rank of private. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Harris, Nina

date:

2007-05-21

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

171; 2007.171

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

202613

coverage:

Korean War (1950-1953) | 1950-53

rights:

Unrestricted