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- Description:
- Retired Major Clara Christine "Chris" Johnson talks about her life and education in Jackson, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois and her service in the U.S. Air Force. Johnson says that the Air Force was one of the few employers to provide opportunities for young African-American women after she left school and that she enlisted in 1950 and was sent to San Antonio for training. She talks about her duty as a "float designer" in the Special Services Unit at the San Antonio Air Force Base and says that she later was accepted to Officer Candidate School and graduated in 1954. As an officer, she says that she served in Cheyenne, Wyoming and in Great Britain and then went through officer's flight training in 1963 in Amarillo, Texas and then worked with the Ground Electronic Engineering Installation Agency, where she managed the United States' ground radio and airborne radar communications throughout the country and abroad. Johnson says that she later served in Vietnam and describes her service there and says that she returned to the U.S. in June 1969 and retired from the Air Force in 1970. After her military career, Johnson says that she became a college professor and lobbyist for human rights. Ruth F. Stewart interviews Johnson.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Theodora C. Smolinski talks about her service in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and later the Women's Army Corp during World War II. She says that she was working as a stenographer and switchboard operator for a company in Pittsburgh when, motivated by patriotism, she enlisted in October 1942 and later found herself being shipped overseas aboard the Queen Mary. She discusses the bases she served at in both England and France, describes her Army duties as a switchboard operator, her pay, her rank, her uniforms, and being segregated from the men. Smolinski says she returned to her employer in Pittsburgh after her discharge in 1945, used the GI Bill to earn a certificate in occupational therapy and later an undergraduate degree and that her time in the military gave her a sense of confidence which was important to her throughout her life. Smolinski is interviewed by Amelia Bunder.
- Date Issued:
- 1984-02-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project