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Cpl Wilma Vera Nations Oral History
Publication date: 31 July 2024
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title:
Cpl Wilma Vera Nations Oral History
creator:
Nations, Wilma Vera (Peetz) (1922 October 28 - )
subject:
Marine Corps Women's Reserve
description:
Wilma V. Nations (formerly Peetz) was born on October 28, 1922 in Jackson, Missouri. During World War II she was working as a payroll clerk in Jackson, Missouri and came to St. Louis, Missouri to work as a timekeeper at Curtiss-Wright. While in St. Louis, she was walking downtown when she saw women at a Marine Corps recruitment office. She liked talking to the recruiters in May of 1944 and wanted to travel, but remained at Curtiss-Wright for several more months until she was called to service in September. She went to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for basic training and was assigned to the payroll department on base after completing basic. After the war ended, her main job was to write letters to sergeants who were returning from overseas and had been overpaid, trying to get the extra money back. They would go to the beach often, and although Nations didn’t know how to swim she loved being in the water and playing around with friends. The Marine Corps was strict about their hair length and uniforms, to the point that even when they’d leave the base they had to be in uniform the whole time. When the war came to a close they were given the option to go home or to Washington, DC, and she chose to leave the service in May 1946. She worked several private jobs before taking the civil service exam and working at the Veterans Administration in St. Louis. She wrote an autobiography of her time in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. When she left the service Nations had reached the rank of corporal, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Gonzalez, Betty
date:
2007-03-12
type:
Audio
format:
CD
identifier:
1140; 2008.1140
source:
American Legion Post 404 | CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
203369
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1944-46
rights:
Unrestricted