Thelma Foster (1917-2010) served as a clerk-typist and quartermaster corps officer in the the United States Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Thelma Foster was born in Statesville, North Carolina, on November 19, 1917. When Foster was six, her mother died of pneumonia. In 1926 Foster’s father was forced to resign his school administration post, due to tuberculosis, and move to the Virginia countryside. Foster graduated from Farmville High School, Virginia, in 1935. Foster was able to attend Farmville State Teachers’ College, despite the global economic depression, due to funding from a local sorority and the National Youth Administration. After her graduation in 1939, Foster began to teach school in Waverly, Virginia. In the summer months she worked at Camp Lee, Virginia, as a civilian in the quartermaster’s office. Foster soon enlisted in the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) after seeing repeated calls for the services of French and German speakers. Foster received her basic military training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. After graduation she was stationed at Fort Sheridan, Iowa, where she served as a clerk-typist. Disliking the mundanity of her assignment, Foster applied for officer candidate school (OCS) in hopes of being deployed overseas. Foster attended OCS at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. After graduation Foster’s company of female officers were shuffled from base to base, while congress worked to pass Public Law 78-110—which would allow women to serve in the army. In 1943, after the formation of the WAC (Women’s Army Corps), Foster was again deployed to Fort Des Moines for a short time. She was quickly reassigned to Fort Worth, Texas, to work for both the flying training, and technical training commands. She was next briefly deployed to Montgomery, Alabama, before being redeployed to Tyndall Field, Florida. At Tyndall Field she worked as a quartermaster supply officer responsible for outfitting the entire air field. Foster remained in Florida for the remainder of the war and met her husband while stationed at Tyndall Field. In 1945 Foster married and received an honorable discharge from the army. She later pursued a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She worked as a teacher for 13 years in Greensboro, North Carolina, until she was hospitalized for a ruptured brain vessel.
