KAREN CHAMBLISS

SFC Karen M. Chambliss - US Army - Women's Army Corps

Retired from Petaluma, CA
Enlistment: 26 Jul 1961 - Retirement: 31 May 1994

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Membership in Service Organizations:

Vietnam Veterans of America, Ch. 563
Disabled American Veterans, Ch. 48 Life Member
Women's Army Corps Veterans Assn, MAL
American Legion, Post 338, Life Member
Daughters of the American Revolution, San Francisco Chapter
Veterans of America Honor Guard, Sponsor
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America

Awards, Decorations, Citations:

Meritorious Service Medal (1st OLC)
National Defense Service Medal (1st OLC)
Armed Forces Reserve Medal
Second Row
Army Achievement Medal
Army Good Conduct Medal
Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal (3rd OLC)
Army Service Ribbon
Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon (2d Awd)

Karen's Revolutionary War Ancestors! Click Here!

Click Here for some Photos of the early years

Click Here for 5th Platoon, Delta Company's Page!

Click Here for some photos of the later years

Click Here for Vietnam Women's Memorial Project Poster

Beatrice

MEMORIES BY KAREN CHAMBLISS
Posted by Karen Chambliss, March 15, 1997

During his Inaugural Address in 1961, President John F. Kennedy, asked us to do something for our Country, so a few months later I decided to join the U.S. Army. I was sworn in on 26 July 1961, and was immediately sent to Fort McClellan, Alabama, to enter Women's Army Corps (WAC) Basic Training. Women were trained separate from the men in those days, and all the trainers were female.

They issued us uniforms, that came pretty close to fitting, and we hung "dog tags" around our neck. For 9 weeks we learned about starching and ironing uniforms and something called "spit shining." We learned to catch the dust before it fell and that if you didn't, you got something called a "gig." Our dresser was called a footlocker, and the closet was a wall locker. Every minute of the day was scheduled with training. We were taught to march, and to eat a meal in record time, we pulled K.P., attended classes on military subjects, did more physical training then we had done in 4 years of high school, did company details like cutting weeds, and learned to fire an M-1 Carbine. We went into a gas chamber, and quickly learned why it was important to put that gas mask on properly. Those of us who smoked cigarettes learned the fine art of "field stripping" a butt. You couldn't put anything in your uniform pockets so we put them in our "G.I. Purse". On graduation day, while some of our families watched, we received our certificates of completion and marched in a parade.

The next day I was off to another part of Fort McClellan to attend a school called C.T.C. There I learned to type fast on an old manual, upright typewriter. They also taught us about Army correspondence and forms. We lived in cubicles but still had those lockers. The highlight of this school was the fact we could have a pass on the weekend after our inspection. I think the first thing we did on a pass was go into town and have our hair done. Then we discovered the E.M. Club, and that thousands of Reservists were there, after being called up for the Berlin Wall Crisis. Many of us fell in love within hours, and one woman even got married before we completed school. By the time we graduated, the weather in Alabama had gone from hot and humid, to cold, with snow flakes on one occasion. We were once again given orders. Some women went to another school, and others to a duty station somewhere in the US. My orders were to a base in Oakland, California that I'd never heard of.

I worked in the Transfer Point, Morning Report Section, USA Personnel Center, Oakland, CA. We didn't have personal computers to do our work on in those days. Very few offices in the Army at that time even had electric typewriters. When you made a typing error preparing a 1049, you corrected it with an eraser and a piece of thin cardboard, so you wouldn't make smudges on the carbon copies.

The morning report could not be corrected, but regulations did permit typing a slash over an error, and then continuing typing the information. Our Morning Report tracked all personnel serving in the US Army from Hawaii to the Far East, who were within 90 days of their return to the States for discharge, or transfer to the Reserve. The Transfer Point would receive records of service members in advance, and prepare all the documents for separation in advance of their arrival. The day the service member arrived, either by ship or plane, we all worked until the last person was processed and paid. Sometimes this meant working until almost midnight so we wouldn't have to redo all the paperwork because we kept them in the Army another day.

In my Morning Report Clerk days, a memorable event was the time a soldier came up to the counter and asked if I would help him. He had a cast on his arm and was being put on a medical hold for a few weeks until it could be removed. This meant he wouldn't be going home for a while. He unbuttoned his shirt and showed me his problem. He had a boa constrictor wrapped around his torso that he was bringing home. He had made friends with this snake in Thailand when it was a baby. We couldn't put up a snake in the barracks, so we resolved the problem by calling the zoo and getting them to accept the snake and give it a good home.

By far the most memorable event in my Regular Army career was marching in a parade in 1962 to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Women's Army Corps. Every year on May 14th I still celebrate the anniversary of the W.A.C. The W.A.C. was born the same year I was so I always know how old it is.

Joining the Army Reserve in 1974 was an adjustment. My First Sergeant, Supply Sergeant, Company Clerk and HHD Commander were all male. Things had changed since 1963, when there were WAC Detachments, run by women, for the women in the Army. The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Reserve still had a lot of those men who resisted everything military, and only served to avoid being drafted. A few wore wigs to cover their long hair. Some refused to stand formation, and others just sat around and did no work. It was a period of transition into an All-Volunteer Army. It was also a period of acceptance of a lot of women in the Reserve, who had been kept out after their active service because they had dependents. We needed to teach the men, women could do more than type, and that women could also lead.

In 20 years in the Army Reserve, I traveled to thirteen states and made 2 trips to the United Kingdom. We were called "weekend warriors" yet worked many unpaid week nights & weekends to get the job done. From 1985 to 1987 I served on Reserve Active Duty traveling in 6th Army doing pay audits and teaching USAR Pay. In England, I lived with the Royal Air Force in the Sergeant's Mess, ate new food, and climbed Creden Hill when challenged by the Brits. Over the years at my summer training I lived in hooches with dirt floors, tents, barracks with ants & no hot water, as well as a beautiful BEQ at Fort Ord, CA. I attended numerous Army schools, acquired several additional MOSs, and was promoted 3 times.

I completed my military career in the Army Reserve as a Personnel NCO retiring in 1994. I had a personal computer, no carbon paper or erasers, a modern photocopy machine, a fax machine, and a modem that could take me all over the world. We wore the same style Class A uniform as in 1961, but our fatigues had become a Battle Dress Uniform. The old taupe PT uniform was gone, and a new unisex gray PT uniform, with US Army across the shirt & jacket, had replaced it. Women were no longer wearing low-top brown combat boots, and what we used to call "granny" shoes. Those granny shoes are now in fashion for young civilian women. When I wore them in the Army, the only other persons who had shoes like them were the Catholic nuns who gave me my religious education. The "pot" hat had come in and was on it's way out. The beret came and went. The overseas cap survived. The old wool overcoats, probably styled like the one General George Washington had worn, had been replaced by an all-weather coat that a lot of us thought looked like civilian clothing. When I retired both my First Sergeant and my HHC Commander were women and the Berlin Wall had been torn down.

When I began my military training in 1961, I was earning $78.00 a month, before taxes. That was for working a 30 day month. In 1994 when I retired from the Army Reserve, I was earning over 4 times that amount for working only one weekend a month. My Reserve summer training of 2 weeks paid me more than I earned in an entire year in the Regular Army. In the regular Army I had a place to live, food to eat, a rewarding job, medical and dental care, entertainment at the service club or U.S.O. on my days off (they even provided free cigarettes since most of us smoked in those days), good friends from around the country and not a care in the world. Since that time, I've been to college and bought a house on the G.I. Bill, received health care from the Veteran's Administration and when I'm 60 years of age, I'll even get an Army Reserve retirement check. It's been a pretty good career, that I am extremely proud of. I will always be grateful I made that decision to join the Army when I was 19 years old.

One day I hope to be able to find: Annie Crayton, who I was told completed a career in the RA; Linda VanWagoner from Niagara Falls, NY, who married a guy we called "Tiger"; Jim Wentsloff (never could spell his name), who I think was from Michigan; Phil Witters, who was last known to be in San Jose, CA; Bill Cliff whose last address is NYC, NY; Fay & "Tennessee" who helped make clerical school so much fun; John Jordan, from Arizona; the guy we called "preacher"; Dixie & Jerry who I think got married after the Army; Lois Ashton, who I lost touch with when she moved from Oregon, she married a guy named Jack Ackerman, I think; Maxine K. from Hawaii, whose last name we never could pronounce, she used to do a good job riding the buffer when we were getting ready for inspections; SGT Belden, who taught us all so well how to be soldiers & ladies at the same time, and everyone else who graduated from D Company 5th Platoon on September 29, 1961 at Fort McClellan, Alabama.