Women in the Air Force
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Women in the Air Force (WAF) was a program which served to bring women into limited roles in the United States Air Force. WAF was formed in 1948 when President Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to serve directly in the military. The WAF program ended in 1976 when women were accepted into the USAF on an equal basis with men.
A/2C Frances E. Courtney furnished the bugle calls of taps and reveille for the 3452nd Student Squadron (WAF) at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in 1953
The first WAF squadron at Lackland AFB in 1948
A 1952 WAF officer candidate salutes in front of the American flag
General Janet C. Wolfenbarger is the highest-ranking woman in the USAF.
United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve (Reserve) was the World War II women's branch of the United States Marine Corps Reserve. It was authorized by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 30 July 1942. Its purpose was to release officers and men for combat, and to replace them with women in U.S. shore stations for the duration of the war plus six months. Ruth Cheney Streeter was appointed the first director. The Reserve did not have an official nickname as did the other World War II women's military services.
Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts pictured with other representatives in 1939
Ruth Cheney Streeter, the first director of the Marine Corps Women's Reserve during World War II
A Marine Corps Women's Reserve recruiting poster during World War II