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Show WACS LIKE JOB IN NORTH AFRICA 'Like Living in a Dream Is the Concensus of American Woman. WASHINGTON. The WACs in North Africa feel that they are living liv-ing a modern Arabian Nights tale. Such is the report recently made to Col. Oveta Culp Hobby, director of WAC, by a representative sent to that war theater to check on the accomplishments of the first 300 , American women in uniform sent overseas. The report is made on the completion of the contingent's first six months in' Africa. The WACs dream and talk of dances and shows, and fashions and frocks and nylon hose they cannot enjoy, but when you get them in a corner, and "make 'em give you the truth," the real lowdown on what has happened to the femmes de guerre is that they are living an Arabian Nights tale. "I've seen things and been places and met people that I never would have had the chance to . . . had it not been for the WAC," said Pearlie Hargrave, former rural school teacher teach-er of Pillager, Minn., who now drives one of the cars assigned to the staff of the commander in chief. "I love it. Honestly. Every minute min-ute of it," Tech. 4th Grade Irma Bouton of West Orange, N. J., admits, ad-mits, smiling. Gained in Every Way. "A trip abroad wouldn't have ever happened to me," she states. Now doing secretarial work for a general, she explains: "I was working in a small insurance office in a small town. My way of life was pretty much of a rut. I'd been working In this office for seven years and used to spend my money on clothes that I now cannot even remember, or on vacations visiting relatives in a big city where I'd never meet as many famous and interesting people, or have as much feeling of being in the center of things important." The above WAC has gained, her record shows, in health, in education educa-tion and, undoubtedly, in mental and visual horizons and in general knowledge. knowl-edge. She is associating daily with some of the great minds of this war. And her words indicate she is proud of herself . . . and of her corps and exceedingly thankful. She has learned French and some Arabic, picking it up through conversation. con-versation. Living as a member of a group, she finds she has learned to get along with people better than ever before. She has listened to tales of other lives and experiences. Lives Are Enriched. "Early to bed and early to rise, regular meals, a balanced diet and the care which the army gives its members medically and spiritually, make for satisfaction," she adds. "I'm doing the biggest job I've ever done and living the most worthwhile worth-while life I know of," Catherine Jeane Strong of Iron Mountain, Mich., told Colonel Hobby's representatives. repre-sentatives. The report shows she is now a clerk in the postal section that sees to it that wounded soldiers get letters let-ters from home as fast as possible. There is so much for her to do that she works long hours and only gets one-half day leisure a week. "But I .still manage to go more places, see more things and have more fun than I ever did back home," she reports. "And, every time I think of my job . . . and what it means to those boys who get that letter from 'Mom,' or the girl, or wife, back home, in record time . . . why I just feel swell inside." The report says that the first WACs sent to North Africa are finding that they are enjoying contacts and personal per-sonal experiences that have enriched their lives. Their travels and their work tip the scales on the side of the WAC as compared to "not being in." |