Norma Martell Oral History

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: This collection has been digitized in its entirety.
Where can I find more information?: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/961
What's in the full collection?: 30 April 1999 oral history transcript.
Full biography: Norma J. Saunders Martell (1917-2003), of Forest Hill, West Virginia, was a cryptographer in the United States Women's Army Auxilary Corps (WAAC) and the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1942 to 1945. Norma June Saunders Martell was born in Forest Hill, West Virginia, in June 1917 and graduated from high school there in 1936. She attended a National Recovery Administration Job Corps school in 1937, where she was trained as a secretary and sent to work at a rural airport. She also worked at a nearby airport until she secured a similar position at the Congressional Airport in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1940. Martell enlisted in the Women's Army Auxilary Corps (WAAC) in 1942 and completed basic training in Daytona, Florida. She then trained for the service of supply in cryptography with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Missouri. Martell was briefly stationed at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia before being transferred to Vint Hill, Virginia, where she worked as a cryptographer for the OSS. She met Arthur Martell in August 1944 and the two were married the following month. Martell was discharged in April 1945 when she became pregnant with her first child. After the war, Martell moved with her husband's career to Massachusetts and Illinois and the couple raised six children. In 1960, after separation from her husband, she moved to North Carolina. There, she discovered the Quaker religion, was active in political efforts to promote peace, and served on the board of Quaker House, which aids pacifist GIs, for many years. Norma Martell died on 1 May 2003.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Army -- WAC
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
United States. Army--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Oral history interview with Norma Martell; Primarily documents Norma J. Martell's early life during the Depression; her service in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) as a cryptographer from 1942 to 1945; and her post-war pacifist ideology. Martell discusses her family and her life during the Depression, including her father's career as a subsistence farmer; having a full scholarship to a small college but being unable to afford the bus fare there; working as an airport record-keeper; and leaving airport work. " Martell recalls her time in basic training, including riding the troop train to the base; taking tests in Florida; and the drills and parades. She discusses being shuttled around waiting for an assignment; decoding messages with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS); the OSS facility in a barn in Vint Hill, Virginia; reading about the battle of Stalingrad on the tape; and working long hours. Martell also remembers in detail transcribing the message of the end of the war in Europe too slowly and her reprimand for it. Other topics include the atom bomb; her brother-in-law's experience on the Manhattan Project team; her feelings on the repercussions of the use of the weapon; and the use of nuclear energy. " Personal topics include Martell's marriage in 1944 to a friend's brother; her Quaker faith; becoming active in politics; and keeping in touch with friends from the service.

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Norma Martell Oral History

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