The campaign to allow women to serve in World War II was not easily won. “Who will then do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself; who will nurture the children?,” a southern congressman argued. But after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the creation of the
Women’s Army Corps (WAC).
Doris Moore (b. 1919) was among the 150,000 women who served, and we are lucky to have a few of her souvenir photographs and an oral history in the Portsmouth Athenaeum archive. After graduating from Portsmouth High, Doris earned a bachelor’s degree in 1942 from Morris Brown University in Atlanta, Georgia. Back in Portsmouth, she joined the WAC. She was assigned to the 688th Central Postal Battalion, an all-black company.
According to Athenaeum records, Doris Moore’s segregated battalion was the first WAC unit to go overseas. They served first in Birmingham, England. Inthis photo, Doris and her company are marching in Rouen, France in honor of General Charles de Gaulle.
Returning to college after her tour of duty, she added a master’s degree in social work from Atlanta University School of Social Work. Back home, she became the first African-American social worker in New Hampshire. She lived at 41 Pickering Street, Portsmouth. Doris Moore died in 1993.
Copyright J. Dennis Robinson, all rights reserved.
Glimpses of a Parallel World
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