At the Front Lines and on the Home Front:
DeKalb County Women of World War II

By EvaAnne Johnson

Nearly 150 DeKalb County women enlisted in the military during World War II. They served in the Navy WAVES, Army WAC, Marines, Navy and Army Nurse Corps, and the Coast Guard Spars. They served as essential behind-the-scenes members of the military, serving as officers, recruiters, clerks, storekeepers, control tower operators, nurses, pharmacists, and more. Many more women worked in essential roles on the home front, including the Red Cross, Women's Ambulance Safety Patrol, Cadet Nurse Corps, Volunteer Nurses' Aides, and other important duties.

Corporal Evelyn Mae Anderson / DeKalb
WAC - 1943.

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Ella Naomi Barnes / Sycamore
WAVES - 1942

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Sgt. Marguerite Carnal of DeKalb
WAC- 1943

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Cpl. Lynn Chilton of Maple Park
Marines - 1943

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Marion Cook Holmes / DeKalb
WAC - 1942

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2nd Lieut. Margaret Duffy / Shabbona
WAC - 1943

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1st Lieut. Helen Duncan / DeKalb
WAC - 1942

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Violet Audrey Eastwood /DeKalb
WAVES - 1943

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1st Lieut. Vera Floit / Sycamore
Army Nurse Corps - 1942

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Marjorie (on left) and Dorothy Hallgren (on right)
DeKalb County Women’s Ambulance Safety Patrol - 1943

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Pvt. Donna Harris / DeKalb
WAC -1943

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Tech. Sgt. Mattie L. Jackson / Sycamore
WAC- 1943

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Barbara Johnson / Lee
Coast Guard SPARS - 1944

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Mildred Agnes Kaiser of DeKalb
WAVES - 1944

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Mary Kosearas / DeKalb
WAVES - 1942

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Lieut. Jean MacQueen / Kirkland
ANC - 1943

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Private M. Claire McMenamin / DeKalb
WAC - 1944
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Verta Mumaw graduated / Sycamore
Cadet Nurse Corps - 1943
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Master Sgt. Esther Mae Nesbitt / WAC - 1942

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Geri Niewold/ DeKalb
DeKalb County Women’s Ambulance Safety Patrol - 1942
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Mercedes I. (nee Thurlby) Rankin / Kingston
WAVES- 1944
Mercedes Rankin
Sally Fulton Reston / Sycamore
Journalist and an accredited foreign correspondent for the New York Times - 1942
Sally Reston
Lt. Marjorie Smith / DeKalb
ANC - 1942
Marjorie Smith
Ensign Wilma Marie Swanson / Sycamore
WAVES- 1943
Wilma Swanson
Felicitas Villegas, Alma Linda Villegas Fraile, and Theophila Villegas / Sycamore
WAC - 1944
Villegas Sisters
Ensign Laura Evelyn Wolfe / DeKalb
Navy Nurse Corps - 1943
Evelyn Wolf