Isabella Peterson Evans (1919-2007) of Clemson, North Carolina, served with the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1942 to 1945. She was part of the all-women of color, primarily African American, 6888th Central Postal Battalion. Isabella Peterson Evans was born in Clemson, North Carolina, on 6 December 1919. Her father was a blacksmith and her mother was a homemaker. In 1931, after the death of her parents, Peterson moved to Washington, D.C., to live with relatives. She graduated from Cardozo High School in 1940 and worked in the afternoons as a maid. Peterson worked in the navy department's post office in Washington, D.C., as a civilian before joining the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in December 1942. She attended basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, in February 1943 before being stationed at Fort Clark, Texas, in May 1943. While serving as a postal clerk in a segregated African American unit there, Peterson re-enlisted in the WAC. She also married Oscar Evans, a member of the 2nd Cavalry, in November 1943. In the summer of 1944, Peterson was sent to Camp Gruber in Okalahoma, where she served as a company clerk. In March 1945 Peterson was sent overseas to Birmingham, England, with the 6888th postal detachment. She sorted mail in England for three months and then in Rouen, France, until November 1945. She left the army and returned to her job with the postal service in Washington, D.C., in late 1945. Evans' husband remained in the service and the family lived in Indiana, Boston, and Germany. The Evans were divorced in the late 1960s, and Isabella Evans settled in North Carolina in the early 1980s. Evans passed on 29 December 2007.
