D. Clarke Evans Photographer

Rae Weisbruch

Private First Class, Women’s Army Corps
1941-1944

Pfc. Rae Weisbruch,
Chicago, IL, 1943

It was a different time back then compared to now. Some things are better, some things not, and some things it doesn’t matter.

I was born in Chicago; north side; Cubs fan. I graduated high school in 1940 and went to Wright Junior College for two years. I was pre-med and wanted to be a doctor. Then I found out it wasn’t possible for me because my family couldn’t afford it, and women in that profession were not welcome. So, I said the heck with it.

After I left college, I had a job doing paperwork for an insurance company, and that was no good, so I thought I would join the Women’s Army Corps, the WAC. I joined right after Pearl Harbor. They didn’t care how short I was, so I signed up.

I went to boot camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia for six weeks. Then I was assigned to Selfridge Field in Michigan as a clerk/typist. Romulus Army Air Field in Detroit was headquarters for that area’s ferrying division of the air transport command. When our WAC group was transferred to Michigan, our barracks was formerly a men’s barracks. When we got there, I had to use the latrine and there weren’t any signs. While I was in there, a lieutenant walked in. We looked at each other and I didn’t know whether to sit there or stand up and salute. We were both embarrassed; he saluted/waved and left.

I became an instructor at the instrument flight school. We trained men who were pilots already, and they had to take this refresher course every year for their instrument flight rating. I was enlisted, they were officers, but still there was a camaraderie between us. That’s where I met my future husband, who was a pilot. His name was Stanley Weisbruch. He was qualified to fly single, twin, and 4-engine airplanes. If it flew, he could fly it.

I then went to Tinker Field in Oklahoma City as a clerk/typist. I stayed at Tinker for close to a year and then was discharged in 1944 as a private first class. The fact that I married an officer was against all regulations. We went out on dates, which we weren’t supposed to do. We did it anyway!

I was discharged in San Antonio. I enjoyed my service. I made friends; you know, the kind of friends where you thought we’d never lose track, but we did. It was an interesting experience and I’m glad I did it. My husband went overseas to China/Burma/India flying The Hump. He was over there for 13 months and came home in late 1945.

After he had been overseas for a year, and the war was over, he was ready to hang it up. He had a boyhood friend from his hometown in Iowa who owned a long-established laundry/dry cleaning business with his dad. They had promised him when he came back that he could be a partner. We stayed for about three years. That ended up not working out.

We went to Michigan for 10 years, then we were transferred to other places. My husband was with S.S. Kresge, which is now K-mart. He did 30 years of that and took early retirement in 1980 when we were in Oklahoma City. I didn’t work outside the home. I stayed home and raised our five children. Two of them are deceased now.

We ended up in Kerrville, Texas. We bought this house in 1983 and lived happily ever after. Stanley and I were married for 66 years. I have nothing to regret. How many people can say that and be truthful about it? There may have been things I could have done better, but we do what we have to with what we have to do it. It was a different time back then compared to now. Some things are better, some things not, and some things it doesn’t matter. I led a good life, I was happy, and I have a wonderful family. {09-25-2018 • Kerrville, TX}