Soldier Details

Division:

Women's Army Corps (WAC)
, 
SHAEF

Highest Rank:

M Srgt.

Theater of Operation:

European

Served:

Dec 1, 1942

Honored By:

herself

Biography

Jackie heard about the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps that had started in December 1942, and, being eligible at 21, she was sworn in. She was ordered to Des Moines, Iowa, for basic training, and then sent to Arkansas to attend Army Administration School. Shortly thereafter, she attended (NCO) Non-Commission Officers Training School. Upon completion of the course, she was appointed “Acting First Sergeant.” A few months later, she became First Sergeant. Also, during her time in Alabama, she was appointed the first woman Sgt Major of Cadets at an Advanced Single Engine School. Then, she volunteered to go overseas.

From New York we sailed across the North Atlantic Ocean to England, where she was assigned as secretary to the Base Commander of Service and Supply. During the D-Day operations, she and many other WACS worked in SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. While the “Battle of the Bulge” raged on and no planes could aid the troops there due to the heavy fog, she returned to London to await assignment in France. The fog lifted in December, and they flew to Paris. From there, she and seven WACS commandeered taxis to General Eisenhower’s headquarters in Versailles.

She was assigned as secretary to Brigadier General Robert A. McClure, who was Chief of Psychological Warfare Division with offices on Champs Elysees, where she worked until the end of the war on May 8, 1945. After celebrations with thousands of G.I.s and French people, she believed she would be going home to America. Instead, their organization’s name was changed to “Information Control Division (ICD).” They moved to Germany to take over all the radio stations and newspapers in Germany. They set up offices in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Norway, and one of their jobs was to publish thousands of brochures showing the horrors of the concentration camps operated by the Germans and photos of their scrawny captives. These brochures were dropped from planes for the German populace to see.

In October 1945, she received orders to return home and be discharged. With 10,000 other soldiers, they sailed on the Queen Mary. They received a great welcome in New York.

["Veteran's Voices" interview by Bill Thomas, September 9, 2011, Sun Newspapers. Jackie Voelkl was 90 yrs. old.]