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By A. Victor Lasky Stars and Stripes Staff Writer BIRMINGHAM, March 10.—A bat talion of Negro Wacs—26 officers and 686 enlisted women—is under going training in UK after arriv ing at a North England port on Lincoln's birthday to highlight that historic anniversary for members of their race. First Negro Wac to set foot on foreign soil was Pvt. Nispa Tankard, a New Yorker. Interviewed at what used to be a ritzy boys’ school and now serves as the Wacs’ combined living quarters, training school and head quarters, Pvt. Tankard modestly admitted today that her debut among the legion of “firsters” was “just a lucky break.” “Everybody was so excited just as we were about to debark that no one knew what was going on,” explained the 31-year-old Wac, who before volunteering for the Army was employed by the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. Will Move to Continent The Wacs will be in the UK just long enough to familiarize them selves with the work of the Army Directory Service. They will then take over on the Continent, it was explained by their commanding officer, Maj. Charity Adams, 27, of Columbia, S.C. Maj. Adams, member of the first class of WAC OCS candidates to be commissioned in August, 1942, said that her “troops” will be trained in changing addresses of American soldiers who are battle casualties, reinforcements or trans fers. “We are the first Army Postal Unit composed entirely of Wacs,” she said. The GI Janes were met on arrival by Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, highest ranking Negro in the Army. Carrying field equipment and to the tune of a bagpipe pumped by a kilted Scot—the first the girls had ever seen—they filed off the ship in orderly manner on to a waiting train. They were greeted in Birmingham the brass band of the 10th Re placement Depot, which blared forth “Roll out the barrel” to keep the girls in step. Oldest Wac in the group was Set. Erma L Filer, 52, whose sprightly bearing belies her age. “Granny” to her younger “buddies,” Erma, who comes from Chicago, really is a grandmother with three grandchildren.
Newspaper Details
Southern France Stars and Stripes
Nice, Provence Alpes Cote d Azur, FR
Sun, Mar 11, 1945
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Sharon T.
GB 18 Feb 2026
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