MAJ Beatrice Stecher, USAF Ret. Oral History Tape 1, Side A

title:

MAJ Beatrice Stecher, USAF Ret. Oral History Tape 1, Side A

creator:

Stecher, Beatrice (Seelav) (Benedick) (1917 September 6 - )

subject:

Women's Army Corps (WAC) | AF Reserve

description:

Tape 1 of 2, side 1 of 2. Beatrice Stecher (born Seelav, formerly Benedick) was born on September 6, 1917 in New York City, New York. Her father was a lawyer, so after she graduated from high school she began working in a law office. Although her father hoped she would go to college and become a lawyer, she did not choose to do so. She worked as a legal secretary until she enlisted in the Army during World War II. She joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in May 1942 and in the 8th class of women to go through training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Her father was very against her joining, nearly kicking her out of the house over it. While at officers’ training, there was a freak snowstorm and she caught pneumonia, which put her in the hospital for two weeks. After training, she was commissioned to an air force station in New York City that she had volunteered at before the attack on Pearl Harbor. She worked with the Civilian Defense Department as part of the Air Force, identifying unidentified planes. She was sworn in again when the WAAC became the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and was sent to 1st Headquarters Flight Command at Mitchell Air Field in Long Island, then to the 1st Air Force. She worked in administration as part of the adjutant general’s office. She worked there for three years before being assigned to the Pentagon, initially attending Congressional hearings with other military women. She requested to have her job changed, because she found this work boring. Instead, she got a position in the Civil Affairs Division, reviewing affidavits from POWs who had been held in the Pacific theater to ensure they could be submitted to the Manila war crimes tribunal. She would get sentence reports each week, and was only satisfied with a hanging verdict. None of the women who were held as POWs in Corregidor or Bataan submitted an affidavit. In 1947, she was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany to run two jails as part of the Civil Affairs Department. Frankfurt was still greatly damaged, and the city functioned essentially on a black market system. Servicepeople participated in this system even though getting caught would result in a court martial. She was, in part, in charge of repatriations at the prisoner she worked at since the prisons held people from 33 different countries. She was also a courier for top secret materials from DC to Frankfurt. She returned to the United States after almost a year, flying home to take care of her sick mother while on an emergency separation. She joined the active Air Force Reserve for three years and was called back for Korea, but didn’t go as she had just been married. She left the service in March 1951 because of a service-connected disability that stemmed from her time as a WAC. She worked for 20 years as a paralegal in New York, retiring just before the interview was held. When she left the service Stecher had reached the rank of major, and for her service she was awarded a Women’s Army Corps Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and Army of Occupation Medal (Germany). A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Binker, Mary Jo

date:

2000-10-03

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

887.01; 2000.887

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

021037

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1942-48 | 1948-51

rights:

Unrestricted