Jump to content

WWII "Airborne" WAC


howardl
 Share

Recommended Posts

Many thanks for the information, including that regarding the more modern jump qualified women soldiers. With respect to wearing the old parachute infantry cap patch to indicate the wearer being a rigger, were male riggers also doing that as well? I assume that not all of the riggers were female. Would there have been any kind of formal orders authorizing this or just an unofficial local practice?

HOWARD LANHAM

 

Male riggers were qualified parachutists, so yes they would have worn the cap patch, not because they were riggers, but because they were airborne infantry. There was a school at Benning that trained riggers until 1951, mostly to support the battalions and regiments of operational airborne units. During WWII the rigger military occupation specialty was part of the Infantry, in 1950 this mission was transfer to the Quartermaster Corps which started training riggers in 1951. What's interesting is that several members of the original Airborne Test Platoon went on to be riggers during and after WWII.

 

As for local orders for WACs to wear this "rigger" badge on Fort Benning, I couldn't say. I'm sure there are folks have been trying to find the answer to this question for decades. It's possible that they were worn without any formal order.

 

There was no official parachute rigger badge during WWII. I always have to chuckle when I see the full colored cloth parachute rigger badge on felt or twill advertised on E-bay and elsewhere as genuine lifetime guaranteed WWII badges. The rigger badge wasn't designed by then MAJ Cross until 1949 and was first worn unofficially in 1950, the official metal badge wasn't approved until 1986. See: http://www.qmfound.com/rigger.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Small nit: One of the first two female jump school graduates was a RESERVIST, Spec Dina Laue, from Hq Co, 11th SF Gp at Ft Meade MD. Further, though she may have done the rigger course, she did not stay a rigger. A year or so later, she was in the Gp S-3 shop as IIRC an Air Ops planner and maybe a SGT. She was IIRC an experienced skydiver.

 

 

I just came across a 4 July 1974 Fort Lee, Traveller article on Laue. See graduated from Airborne School shortly after Kooch and Johnson and was the first Army Reserve WAC to attend Airborne School. She also attended the Rigger school at Lee. Her civilian job was working for the Army Reserve Information Office in the Pentagon, before that she worked as a clerk/typist at the Smithsonian.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 years later...

My Dad and uncle took us to West Point for Bicentennial Day in 1976. Among the festivities was watching a demo parachute jump. The announcer pointed out that one of the jumpers was one of the Army's first female parachutists. Wish I could remember if he mentioned her name.

Mikie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Hi, I bought this photo quite a while ago and I could not identify the WAC rigger. It has a back mark to Sandlin Studios in Columbus, Ga. It sort of looks like Marie McMillin but I can’t be sure. It came with this other photo of an Army Sergeant and it has the back stamp to Jack Rabbit Co. In Spartanburg, SC., in Sep 1943. Any help would be appreciated.

 

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 7 months later...
On 8/9/2012 at 10:34 PM, ehrentitle said:

Ok, I found one more article on McMillin from 1947 that proves that the Army didn't train WAC Riggers to jump or consider them qualified parachutists. She claims to have stowed away on an Army plane to make an unauthorized jump:

 

7751058834_66aa76b07e_o.jpg

 

IMG_1845.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...