Cpl Audrey Jean Reid Oral History Tape 1, Side B - Edited

title:

Cpl Audrey Jean Reid Oral History Tape 1, Side B - Edited

creator:

Reid, Audrey Jean "Little Audrey" (1931 March 19 - )

subject:

Women's Army Corps (WAC)

description:

Tape 1 of 2, side 2 of 2. This is the edited interview audio. Audrey Reid was born on March 19, 1931 and grew up in Anoka, about 30 miles south of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father was the general manager at an ammunition plant and her mother was a homemaker. Both Audrey and her younger sister were adopted, something that was kept relatively quiet as she was growing up. She went to St. Ann’s Convent for grade school and to St. Anthony for High School in Minneapolis, graduating in 1949. She remembers buying war bonds in World War II and packing car packages for men and women. Her father also served as an air raid warden, and they rationed shoes and sugar. She studied music in high school but didn’t want to teach, so she instead did sales work in the department stores and spent some time working at a state mental hospital. In 1951 she and a cousin who came to town decided to enlist in the Women’s Army Corps, a decision that shocked her parents. She was sworn in at Fort Lee, Virginia and went through basic training at the headquarters of the 204th Area Service Unit Training Center. She wanted to be a nurse, but was assigned to be a clerical worker and went to typist school at the 101st Airborne Camp at Fort Breckinridge, Kentucky. She was there for 3 to 4 months after being put on limited duty due to a foot injury. She was assigned to the Chicago Quartermaster Depot with the Sixth Army Headquarters after completing training. She stayed in Chicago for 7 to 8 months before being called back to Fort Lee. She volunteered for overseas duty and was shipped out to Okinawa, Japan in 1952. Once in Okinawa, they went to Suikuran [sic] where she was in 8117th Army Unit and served as secretary to the head nurse. This included doing nurse reports, making up rosters, and accompanying the chief nurse on inspections. She remembers that it was hot, there were a lot of bugs, that they slept 3 bunk beds high and there was a shower sign-up sheet. She also sang in a band with the NCO club. She felt that many men didn’t treat women and WACs specifically very well, including doctors who didn’t want to treat her and men who resented the presence of WACs. Reid recounts two times that she was assaulted by men while in Japan. One was her then-boyfriend who tried to forcibly remove her clothes before dropping her off at the train station, and the other was when an Air Force member volunteered to drive her to Kyoto when she was left behind on the way to a special school. They stayed the night in a hotel and she suspects he had her drugged and refused to leave her room. She suffered great anxiety over this and did not feel like she could talk about it. She attended a special school in Kyoto that offered courses in radio drama, singing, dancing, and putting on shows. She and the fellow students went to Korea where they entertained troops. She left Okinawa as her three-year period of enlistment ended in 1954. She suffered from joint and feet problems and had trouble finding work when she got home. She eventually worked as a nurse’s aide. She married in 1953 to a World War II medic (who would eventually commit suicide) and they had three children together in 1955, 1957, and 1961, and she stayed home to care for them. She attended college classes part time, but did not graduate. She also tried to get VA benefits to address both long-lasting problems with her feet and the PTSD that resulted from her assaults, but didn’t receive the care she needed for years. She helped co-found the Women Army Veterans of Minnesota in the 1970s. When she left the service Reid had reached the rank of corporal, and for her service she was awarded an Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, and Army Overseas Service Ribbon. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Binker, Mary Jo

date:

2002-10-31

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

776.01; 2002.776

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

075587

coverage:

Korean War (1950-1953) | 1951-54

rights:

Unrestricted