LTC Louise Anderson Locke, USA Ret. Oral History Tape 1, Side A

title:

LTC Louise Anderson Locke, USA Ret. Oral History Tape 1, Side A

creator:

Locke, Louise (Anderson) (1910 October - )

subject:

Women's Army Corps (WAC)

description:

Tape 1 of 2, side 1 of 2. Louise Locke (formerly Anderson) was born in Lewes, Delaware in October 1910. Her father was in the Navy, so she grew up moving around often, attending thirteen different schools while growing up. During World War I he was stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana, and one day she climbed the 300-foot towers that he worked in and repaired with him. This adventure was written up in a Navy publication, and was an early manifestation of her adventurous spirit. Her family had settled in Colorado, and she graduated from North Denver High School in 1928. She spent a year at the Barnes Business School, then she worked for the Denver music company while taking night classes at Denver University. After working there for a while, she took the Civil Service Exam and worked at the Bureau of Reclamation for a few years. She joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 because it was the first branch that opened to women during World War II. She was selected for officer’s training through a national competition and went to Fort Des Moines, Iowa in the second class of officers. After completing officers training, she was assistant commander of the Head Quarters company, and it was while on this assignment that she was interviewed for a top-secret assignment. This assignment turned out to be a test for whether women could serve overseas, so she was sent to Europe with four other WAACs to serve as part of General Eisenhower’s staff. After staying in London for two weeks, they shipped off to Northern Africa. When they were 80 miles away from Iran, their ship was torpedoed and sunk after 24 hours, which was enough time for everyone to evacuate. They eventually made it to Algiers and lived together in a villa. Each woman was assigned to a general as a personal aide, and Locke worked with a brigadier general who was the chief of staff and General McClure. They remained in North Africa for 13 months until the Allied invasion there was complete. She met her husband while stationed in Algiers, and they married after the war since marrying during would have forced her out of the theater. They went with Gen. Eisenhower to London, England to prepare to the D-Day invasion and all worked at his headquarters in Bushey Park. She was also invited to a dinner that included President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and while there she was brought on as a stenographer for a nearly two-week Casablanca Conference that included FDR, Winston Churchill, and Generals De Gaulle and Giraud. After the invasion of Europe, she went to Paris, France while the other four women went to Versailles. After V-E Day she requested a transfer to Italy to be with her future husband and was there on V-J Day. She spent another year in Europe with the Army of Occupation, and when they returned to the States she got a job at the Pentagon and they were married in 1947. They moved to California a few years later and remained their since. She left active duty in 1946 and the Army Reserve in 1950. Locke reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, and for her service she was awarded a Legion of Merit, Women’s Army Corps Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Binker, Mary Jo

date:

2002-08-07

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

572.01; 2002.572

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

055190

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945)

rights:

Unrestricted