Rosemary Blakely Zule (1916-2010), of Neodesha, Kansas served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1942 to 1946. Rosemary Blakely Zule was born 1 March 1916 in Neodesha, Kansas, to a lumber runner and schoolteacher. She graduated from high school in Neodesha and then earned a degree at Emporia State Teachers College in Emporia, Kansas. She also completed sixteen hours toward a master's degree at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. Zule held several different jobs before her military service. She worked for the "Topeka State Journal", as a reporter and society editor for a newspaper in Scott City, Kansas, as a mathematics teacher at a business school in Wisconsin, managing a newspaper and working as a nanny in St. Paul, Minnesota, and reporting for the "Chehalis Advocate" in Washington State. After the start of WWII, she moved to Seattle, Washington and worked at Boeing Aircraft as a troubleshooter in the building of B-17s. In 1942, Zule enlisted in the Women's Army Corps and went to For Des Moines, Iowa, for basic training. In December of 1942 she was sent to Fort Sam Houston, Texas. There she worked as a butcher for five weeks and then as the co-editor of the base newspaper. She was then assigned overseas duty and traveled on the SS Lurline to New Guinea, where she was stationed in Oro Bay. There she worked as a typist and created a base library. After nine months, Zule was transferred to Manila, Philippines, where she created another library. Zule was discharged from the army in January of 1946, as a staff sergeant. Zule stayed in the Philippines after her service ended. On 16 August 1946 her son was born and she then returned to the States. Zule enlisted in the army reserves and was called back to duty at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. Later she returned to school and took handset printing classes. Zule also worked as a librarian in Key West, Florida, and Emporia, Kansas, and had a second son. She died in Durham, North Carolina on 11 September, 2010.
