By Brian Kelly
Herald Writer
She quit her job at a steel and plastic nut factory in New Jersey, left her family and went off to war.
Like almost half-a-million other women, Dorothy Kingsland Brown joined the rank and file of the nation’s armed forces when her country needed her most. She was a WAC, a corporal in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.
"She decided she’d do her patriotic duty," said her husband, Stuart Brown.
Today, the late Everett resident is one of thousands of war veterans interred at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent. Although she died before the veterans cemetery opened, Stuart Brown moved her ashes there in 1998 so her final resting place would be in that honored ground.
Women have helped their country in times of war ever since the American Revolution. Some, such as Mary Hays McCauly — better known as Molly Pitcher — who took her husband’s place firing a cannon after he collapsed in a battle against the British, are enshrined in the nation’s history.
But women have only been officially in the military for a little over 100 years, since the Army Nurse Corps was established in 1901. Approximately 34,000 women served during World War I, and 49,950 were deployed during the Gulf War more than a decade ago.
By far, most women war veterans served during World War II. Dorothy Kingsland was one of approximately 400,000 women who put on a uniform to work as pilots, nurses, interpreters, intelligence operatives and secretaries.
She was a clerk in a supply room at Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas, when she met her future husband, a sergeant at the Army base who worked as a control tower operator. She had just finished basic training and was one of about 100 WACs on a base with roughly 5,000 men. It was 1944, and Stuart Brown was waiting for an overseas assignment when they met.
"There she was in her brand-new WAC uniform," he recalled. "And I got interested. She was good looking, and I was a long ways from home. So one thing led to another."
The couple started courting, but stuck close to the base. They had to, he said, because Kingsland had been confined to her company area for missing a bed check a few days before the couple met. They spent the next two weeks in the WAC dayroom, playing pingpong and pool.
The couple were married about a month later by an Army chaplain in the post chapel. Everyone was in uniform: the bride and groom, the witnesses, everyone.
Before the big day, Stuart Brown went to talk to her company commander, a captain.
"I had to go ask her if I could marry one of her WACs," he said. "We were both 22 years old, you see, which doesn’t make much sense by today’s standards. But in those days, you did what you were told."
Stuart Brown was soon sent to Panama, while Dorothy Brown stayed in Texas. Both left the military after the war ended, their patriotic duty done, although Stuart Brown later spent a total of 37 years in the Army Reserve.
The couple lasted even longer; they had three children and were married 52 years. Dorothy Brown died in 1996.
Stuart Brown, 79, still carries a black-and-white photo of them in uniform at about the time they were married. Someday, he said, he’ll be placed next to his wife’s ashes at Tahoma National Cemetery.
Today at Tahoma, there is no marker or memorial dedicated to women veterans. However, the cemetery is relatively new, having opened in 1997.
Over the past few years, though, women have received increased recognition for the contributions they have made to America’s armed forces. Many credit the media attention given to women during the Gulf War for raising their public profile, and the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia is recognized as the first major national memorial for women who have served. It was dedicated in October 1997.
It’s been estimated that approximately 2 million women have served in America’s military. The number of women in uniform was limited by law until 1973, which restricted American’s female force to 2 percent of the active duty roster. But since the draft was abolished, more women have enlisted and census projections predict that by 2010 women will make up 10 percent of the veteran population.
At Edmonds Memorial Cemetery this Memorial Day, Monday’s ceremony will include a salute to all the women who have served. It follows ceremonies in years past dedicated to those who were in the merchant marine or were prisoners of war. This year, organizers of the event hope women veterans will come to be honored.
"We figured the people who least get recognized, we’re going to recognize first," said Cliff Edwards, sexton of the cemetery.
You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.
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