Ruth Virginia Payne Brown Collection
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Oral history interview with Ruth Payne Brown
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Primarily documents Ruth Payne Brown's two tours as a medical technician with the WAC (Women's Army Corps). Brown recalls her father's inability to serve in WWII; hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor on TV; and her decision to join the WAC primarily for financial reasons. Topics related to Brown's first tour in the WAC include recruiting and training being shutdown during the winter holidays; the winter uniforms in basic; female sergeants; and her medical training, including videos, the grading system, and ward work. She also discusses being discharged from the WAC because of pregnancy, and divorcing her first husband, who was also in the army. " Brown discusses joining the WAC again in 1960, including having her parents adopt her son so she could begin her second tour. She recalls sexual harassment from a colonel at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; attempts to be transferred out of the base to avoid running into her ex-husband; and meeting her second husband in the burn unit of the 97th General Hospital in Germany. Other topics from her time in Germany include alert drills; social activities; being mistaken for a German woman; rules for proper conduct; interactions with servicemen; and rifle, bivouac, and driver's training. " Personal topics include her sister's enlistment in the WAC in the late 1950s; patriotism in America; and the treatment of veterans.
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Portrait of Ruth Payne Brown
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Portrait of Ruth V. Payne Brown in WAC taupe "Hattie Carnegie" uniform, taken at Fort Lee, New Jersey, in 1953.
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WAC detatchment at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
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Group portrait of a WAC detatchment at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, circa 1960. The WACs wear the green cord uniform and matching garrison cap. Ruth V. Payne Brown is seated in the front row, fifth from the left.
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WACs in front of current events display
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Ruth V. Payne Brown (left) and a fellow WAC pose in front of a current events display focusing on the worldwide battle against "Red" Communists for a public relations photo during basic training at Fort Lee, New Jersey, in 1953. Both women wear the WAC taupe "Hattie Carnegie" uniform.
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WACs shopping at PX
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Ruth V. Payne Brown and a fellow WAC pose for a public relations photo while looking at a bathing suit in the post exchange (PX), circa 1960. The women wear the WAC green cord uniform and matching garrison cap.
