WADCA Uniform Set, the rarest of the rare.

[Gary Cain]

I had posted this before on the Wehrmacht Awards Forum but thought you folks might like to see it as well. It is for a woman serving in the Womens Army Auxillery Drivers Corps. They were a forerunner of the WAAC's who then turned into the WAC's. I have seen just one other uniform in all the years I have collected(and that was in a book!).

 

 

Gary

[Gary Cain]

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I had posted this before on the Wehrmacht Awards Forum but thought you folks might like to see it as well. It is for a woman serving in the Womens Army Auxillery Drivers Corps. They were a forerunner of the WAAC's who then turned into the WAC's. I have seen just one other uniform in all the years I have collected(and that was in a book!).

Gary

[Gary Cain]

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[Gary Cain]

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[Gary Cain]

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[Gary Cain]

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[Gary Cain]

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[Gary Cain]

8 Buttons by Pasquale of course!

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[QED4]

According to Jill Halcomb Smith in her book Dressed for Duty Vol II this is the uniform of the Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps of America (WADCA). A paramilitary origination based in California during WWII. She has a several page write-up on the origination and many good colour pictures of the uniforms and insignia.

[Gary Cain]

That's interesting. According to U.S. Military Patches of WWII by Christopher P. Brown it is WAADC. He also has some good info on that organisation, and there are other collectors here that also have patches from the organisation. Everything has so far been located in California. Most of the patches (well the tabs at any rate) are Southern California based, in fact this is the first Northern California uniform found.

 

 

Gary

According to Jill Halcomb Smith in her book Dressed for Duty Vol II this is the uniform of the Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps of America (WADCA). A paramilitary origination based in California during WWII. She has a several page write-up on the origination and many good colour pictures of the uniforms and insignia.

[Catherine]

Wow Gary, that's a great set you've got there !

I would love to add one of those to my collection one day.

 

Regards

Sofie

[cwnorma]

Gary,

 

Thanks for showing that!

 

I know that Women's items sometimes go under appreciated...

 

Far rarer than most Airborne items, but well, you know.

 

 

 

Chris

[vintageproductions]

There is are also known tabs for Las Vegas and one of a cities in New York state.

[Bob Hudson]

If you do a Google search, it all comes out as ""Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps of America" - there are no listings for Women's Army Auxiliary Driver's Corps. But regardless of what the initials stand for, it's a very interesting piece of history.

[Gary Cain]

Yes I did that after the first post. I was just mentioning where I had got my info which clearly looks to be in error.

 

 

Cheers

Gary

[Jeeper704]

Very interesting uniform.

Thanks for posting this one.

Were there other areas who had these units (besides New York, Nevada and California) ?

 

I hope to be adding the uniform of a (Cadet) Nurse or WAC to my little collection one of these days (my gf would look great in it, he he).

 

Erwin

[Steverino]

Very interesting uniform.

Thanks for posting this one.

Were there other areas who had these units (besides New York, Nevada and California) ?

 

I hope to be adding the uniform of a (Cadet) Nurse or WAC to my little collection one of these days (my gf would look great in it, he he).

 

Erwin

[Steverino]

There is also a write-up in my book on "Cloth Insignia of the U.S. State Guards and State Defense Forces". As far as anyone can determine, except for Elmira NY (where the organization started), and Las Vegas, NV, all the other rockers are for California. There is also a blue background patch for wear on the blue uniform - perhaps only worn in NY.

[GLM]

Gary,

I remember when you posted this on the other forum! At that time, I thought WAADC stood for Women's Auxilary Ambulance Drivers Corps, but Halcomb's 2nd reference proved that incorrect. At any rate, a very rare uniform. Nice find!

 

Here are a couple of the WAADC patches I found at a junk store about the same time you found the uniform. One appears to be a homemade chainstitched example, but they both came together, so my guess is it's as original as the example done on twill. I wasn't aware of the NY or NV connection and thought this organization was strictly CA based. I learn something new every day!

 

Gary

[CNY Militaria]

Here is one on ebay now:

 

The Japanese rifle is a nice touch!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/WADCA-WWII-Womens-Comp...1QQcmdZViewItem

[US Victory Museum]

The following photos are from the Marsha Hunt collection.

[US Victory Museum]

The Rose Wagner photo is from haylymo in the UK.

[US Victory Museum]

On Oct 1st 2007 these W.A.D.C.A. unit rocker patches sold on Ebay for and astounding $318.00. This is astounding to me since that's

roughly $40 more than what I paid for my complete W.A.D.C.A. uniform. (Mine bears the ACME UNIT rocker) And to think I was

trying to snipe 'em with a ridiculously high $70 max bid.

 

The previously posted photos from the Marsh Hunt collection shows that there exist both summer and winter variants of this uniform.

Mine is a light weight Khaki summer enlisted member's uniform with an attached belt. (C.F. photo of six girls, front row, far left.)

[Catherine]

Changed the thread title into WADCA as in "Women's Ambulance

& Defense Corps of America".

 

As things have slowed down a bit in my own collection, I get my gratification in looking at these wonderfull sets here.

I love this stuff, keep on posting!

 

 

Greetings

Sofie

[GLM]

On Oct 1st 2007 these W.A.D.C.A. unit rocker patches sold on Ebay for and astounding $318.00. This is astounding to me since that's

roughly $40 more than what I paid for my complete W.A.D.C.A. uniform. (Mine bears the ACME UNIT rocker) And to think I was

trying to snipe 'em with a ridiculously high $70 max bid.

 

The previously posted photos from the Marsh Hunt collection shows that there exist both summer and winter variants of this uniform.

Mine is a light weight Khaki summer enlisted member's uniform with an attached belt. (C.F. photo of six girls, front row, far left.)

 

Considering the rarity of each and every rocker shown and that it could literally take a lifetime to put together a set of rockers like these individually, the $318.00 price would seem completely reasonable, or actually cheap, to me. Wish I'd seen this auction. I would have given the winning bidder a run for their money!

 

EDIT NOTE: Just did some quick math and came up with $15.90 per patch in this auction. More than a fair price for any one of them, considering their rarity!

 

 

Gary