Women in World War 2

1.Women in the military: More than a year before the U.S. entered WW II, the military realized it needed large numbers of women to handle clerical, communications, and other support functions. The Army and Navy departments hired more than 60,000 women between June 30, 1940 and 1941, with the federal government as a whole going from 186,210 to 266,407 women employees in the same period. Yet, after Pearl Harbor the armed services realized they needed women under military control, women …

…and eighty-three were taken as Prisoners of War. Yet, accounts given by nurses who survived the war reflect only the utter happiness and dedication to do their jobs and do it well. (See "American Women in a World at War") POWs: Military nurses became common POWs for the Japanese during the war. For example on Dec.10th, two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 5 Navy nurses in Guam were taken prisoner by the Japanese.