Gladys Larsen Ressler - World War II Veteran

When the United States entered World War II women wanted to do their part. Over 150,000 women served in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. Members of the WAC were the first women other than nurses to serve within the ranks of the United States Army. Both the Army and the American public initially had difficulty accepting the concept of women in uniform. However, political and military leaders, faced with fighting a two-front war and supplying men and materiel for that war, realized that women could supply the additional resources so desperately needed in the military and industrial sectors. Given the opportunity to make a major contribution to the national war effort, women seized it. By the end of the war General Douglas MacArthur called the WACs "my best soldiers", adding that they worked harder, complained less, and were better disciplined than men.

Gladys Ressler was one of the women who joined the WACs. She was a mechanic in the 5th WAC Detachment at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. Along with her fellow WACs she prepared military vehicles to be shipped overseas.

JoAnne P. Miller