TECH5 Virginia Parker Thoureen Oral History

title:

TECH5 Virginia Parker Thoureen Oral History

creator:

Thoureen, Virginia (Parker) (1921 June 3 - )

subject:

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

description:

Virginia Thoureen (formerly Parker) was born in Ohio on June 3, 1921. She enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in November 1942 and, after completing basic training, was assigned to an AA battery in Washington, DC for nine months. Over those nine months, the women learned how to operate each piece of equipment the men in the battery used. They were successful there, but the experiment was not repeated by any other class of WAACs/WACs. She remained in the service when the WAAC became the Women’s Army Corps, and was assigned to General MacArthur’s HQ in information and education. In this position, her first overseas station was in Australia. From there, as Allied troops moved towards Japan, they were shipped off to New Guinea, where they lived and worked on top of a mountain. They consistently heard over the radio that the Japanese were coming to bomb their mountaintop base, but she was not bombed in her service there. As US troops continued moving through the Pacific, their next station was in the Philippines. Soon after their arrival, Japanese troops attacked the Catholic college the women were staying in, shooting and throwing grenades. Luckily, none of the US servicepeople were hurt or killed, but it was an incredibly frightening experience. She was stationed here when the Japanese forces surrendered, and she was shipped home soon after. On this return trip to the United States, she met the man who would become her future husband and father of their children. Thoureen left the service in 1945 with the rank of technician 5th class, and for her service she was awarded an Army Good Conduct Medal, Women’s Army Corps Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with a battle star, World War II Victory Medal, and Philippine Liberation Medal with a bronze service star. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Anton, Josephine

date:

2004-05-20

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

932; 2005.932

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

032744

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945)

rights:

Unrestricted