Anita M. Keller Collection

Anita G. Keller with friend, 1943
Anita G. Keller poses with a friend outside a house in Miami, Florida. She appears to be wearing an olive-drab Women's Army Corps [WAC] winter service uniform, light shade drab skirt, and service cap.
Anita G. Keller with mother in California
Anita G. Keller poses with her mother while stationed in Miami, Florida, in 1943. Keller appears to be dressed in an olive-drab Women's Army Corps winter service uniform, light shade drab skirt, and service cap.
Oral history interview with Anita Keller
Primarily documents Anita May Keller's life in Washington, D.C.; her experiences in the Air Transport Command and Signal Corps during World War II; and her thoughts on the Vietnam War. Keller describes her enjoyment of high school; the bombing of Pearl Harbor; patriotism and concern for Europe; changes at Catholic University after the U.S. entered the war; and civilians leaving Washington at the start of the war. " Topics related to Keller's civil service in the Air Transport Command (ATC) and Signal Corps include her duties as a cryptographer; working on shifts; the safety of Washington in the 1940s; training at and transportation to Quantico; advantages of living in Washington; choosing not to join the military; housing in Miami; memorable supervisors; flying on ATC planes; her parents' jobs during the war; social life, including dates and an officers' club on Miami Beach; blackouts along the coast; uniform regulations; President Franklin Roosevelt's death; having tea with Eleanor Roosevelt; learning about V-E Day from a top secret teletype message; the atomic bomb; and President Harry Truman's speech. " Other topics include meeting her husband at Jefferson Barracks; her son's involvement in Vietnam War protests; her opinions of Vietnam and of women in combat; and her contribution to the war effort.