Yes Ma’am! – American Women in Uniform during the Second World War

When one thinks of war, the image that most readily comes to mind is that of the soldier at the front. Armed men, trenches, tanks, artillery, marching columns. And yet the modern military machine was also a vast organisational, logistical and administrative structure. Within this structure, during the Second World War, thousands of women carried out essential duties. They were not mere extras. They were switchboard operators, stenographers, typists, clerks, cooks, service personnel, command support staff. They often operated in difficult conditions, close to the combat zone and exposed to the same hardships as the male units.

The exhibition takes particular inspiration from the story of the members of the Women’s Army Corps, the women’s corps of the United States Army. The first WACs assigned to the Fifth Army arrived in Naples in November 1943, coming from Mostaganem, Algeria, under the command of Lieutenant Cora M. Foster. The initial contingent included switchboard operators, typists, stenographers, administrative clerks, cooks and personnel assigned to other duties. The unit was named 6669th WAC Headquarters Platoon.

That small unit followed the Headquarters of the Fifth Army throughout the Italian Campaign. Part of it remained in the rear areas, while an advanced detachment accompanied the movements of the command, coming several times close to the front line. In an army that was still almost entirely male, those women gradually integrated into the life of the large formation. They proudly wore the green scarf of the Fifth Army and considered themselves, even before being WACs, members of that command. In the autumn of 1944 some of them also reached the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, at La Traversa, a hamlet of Firenzuola located along State Road 65, just beyond the Futa Pass. Here the Fifth Army command remained for about six months. Conditions were extremely harsh. The tents were immersed in mud and snow. At the end of December the camp also suffered a German air attack, with bombs and strafing, fortunately without casualties. Their story is interesting because it forces us to look at the war from a less usual point of view. Not only that of combat, but that of the daily work that kept an army functioning. Telephone calls, orders, documents, archives, correspondence, typed papers, reports, cooking, support to the commands. Apparently ordinary activities, but decisive in a long, exhausting and complex campaign such as the Italian one. The WACs were also extensively photographed and covered by the press. General Mark Clark understood the symbolic and media value of their presence. He showed them on official occasions, honour guards, public events and photographic services. But behind the orderly and sometimes smiling image of the photographs, there was a reality made of discipline, adaptation, fatigue and danger. The 6669th WAC Headquarters Platoon received numerous recognitions. The 83 volunteers who served in succession in the unit received a total of 27 Bronze Stars and 54 individual Good Conduct Medals, as well as collective recognitions such as the “5th Army Plaque with clasp” and the “Meritorious Service Unit Plaque”.

The exibition “Yes Ma’am!” therefore aims to restore visibility to a page that has often remained on the margins of the memory of the war. It tells the story of women in uniform, but above all of women at work within the war. Women who left their homes, crossed the ocean, arrived in Italy and operated in a difficult military context, in a country devastated by the conflict.

Alongside the exhibition, the programme for 7 June also includes the presentation of two books. It will be an opportunity to explore the theme of the American female presence in the Second World War and, more generally, to reflect on how military history is also made up of lesser-known figures, invisible services, and apparently secondary yet indispensable roles.

The exhibition will be available for viewing during the museum's opening hours.