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Wednesday, June 1, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
WORLD WAR II: Latham
enlisted at the age
of 21 in 1942
Continued from page 3
women the chance to fill sup-
port roles, thereby freeing up
more men for combat duty. It
was modeled after compara-
ble British units, which made
the knowledge, skill and spe-
cial training of women avail-
able to the national defense
during World War II.
The first contingent of
close to 800 members began
basic training at Fort Des
Moines Provisional Army
Officer Training School,
Iowa. An additional four
training centers in Florida,
Georgia, Massachusetts and
Louisiana were also opened
that same year. Except for
weapons and tactical training,
the women’s courses paral-
leled those for Army men.
Initially the women were
trained in three major special-
ties — switchboard operators,
mechanics, and bakers. Later
the ranks were expanded to
dozens of specialties.
WAAC members began
deploying overseas in 1942.
Most assignments were to
the European Theater of
Operations; in total over
8,300 served in England,
France, Germany and Italy.
Others deployed to the Pacific
and the Far East. In July 1943
the WAAC was changed to
the Women’s Army Corps
(WAC) when it was autho-
rized as a branch of the U.S.
Army.
During the same time
other branches of the U.S.
military had units similar to
the WAC. Women served as
Women’s Airforce Service
Pilots (WASP); Marine
Reservists (popularly termed
Marinettes) which then
became the Marine Corps
Women’s Reserve; as WAVES
(a WWII division of the U.S.
Navy standing for Women
Accepted for Volunteer
Emergency Service); and the
WWII Coast Guard SPARS.
In July of 1942, Margaret
(Simmons) Latham, from
Sisters, enlisted in Portland
at the age of 21. Latham
served from 1942-1945 in the
Women’s Army Corps. Soon
after enlisting, the soon-to-be
WASP program was formed
and Latham received the rank
of Aviation Cadet.
Though Latham was an
Aviation Cadet, she did not
pilot any aircraft during
her time of service. Much
of her time was in the com-
munications division. She,
along with other colleagues,
served in England on D-Day,
June 6, 1944. Latham was
tasked with guiding bomb-
ers and allied forces to their
destinations.
Immediately following
D-Day Latham was deployed
to France with a small group
of WACs.
“I remember her telling
the story of being placed
in a building the Army was
using as barracks outside of
Chartres, France immediately
after D-Day,” said Marlynn
Latham Murphy, Latham’s
oldest daughter, a resident
of Sisters. “She and another
colleague asked for permis-
sion to go to an upper floor
of the building to search for
firewood to boil water and do
laundry; when they opened
armoires the bodies of dead
German soldiers fell onto
them — it was that soon after
D-Day.”
Latham spent her child-
hood on the family ranch at
Cline Falls. In her teen years
the family purchased a larger
ranch near Sisters in the
Cloverdale area.
“She would have been
in the first graduating class
at the new Sisters High
School,” said Murphy. “But
they completed the school the
year after she graduated. Her
diploma is from Redmond
High School.
“She had so many adven-
tures,” said Murphy. “The
Army Corps wanted her to
go to Officer’s Candidate
School, but she didn’t want to
be an officer.”
Latham was discharged
from the Women’s Air Corps
Service Pilot program in 1945
with the rank of Corporal.
About 150,000 American
women eventually served
in the WAAC and the WAC
during World War II. They
were the first women other
than nurses to serve with the
Army. Those 150,000 women
who served released the
equivalent of seven divisions
of men for combat.
After the victory in Europe
in May 1945 and the surren-
der of the Japanese the fol-
lowing August, the remaining
WAC training centers at Fort
Oglethorpe, Georgia, and Fort
Des Moines were closed and
no further WAC training was
conducted.
In February 1946 the War
Department began a program
aimed at retaining women
still in service and re-enlist-
ing those who had served dur-
ing WWII. In 1948 President
Truman signed into law the
Women’s Armed Services
Integration Act that permitted
women in the Regular Army
and the Organized Reserve
Corps. A new training center
at Camp Lee, Virginia, was
opened in 1948.
The WAC was disbanded
in 1978 and all female units
were integrated with male
units.
Latham was proud of her
service and enjoyed her time
in the WAC and her service
photo provided
Margaret Simmons Latham.
as a WASP. She was part of
a military family — her hus-
band, past director of the VA
in Bend and an Army Veteran
who served in both WWII and
Vietnam, also served as the
Public Information Officer
for the Oregon National
Guard for many years. After
her service she traveled to
many of the WAC reunions
throughout the United States
through the remainder of her
life.
Margaret Simmons
Latham died in Salem on
December 16, 2014, at the
age of 93. She is survived by
her eldest daughter Marlynn
Murphy who lives in Sisters
with her two young boys,
Donovan (age 6) and Liam
(age 9); daughter Heidi
Burnette of Franklin, TN; and
son Renee Latham of Eugene.
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