Elizabeth A. Coughlin

Their Story

Elizabeth A. Coughlin was born on December 20th, 1907, to Mr. and Mrs. T.A. Coughlin.^[1] Thirty-Three years old when the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor, Coughlin would enlist with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) to serve her country in the Second World War. Throughout the war, Coughlin and her fellow WAACs would face systemic prejudice from the Army. Their noble and skillful service in the face of this prejudice would eventually lead to full integration within the Army.

Early on in the war, the need for male soldiers to fight at the front-line necessitated women’s participation in the war effort. By mid-1943 high rank Army generals were clamoring for women to be allowed to step into the necessary Army roles left vacant by the men at war. General Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed the opinion that the complexity of modern warfare necessitated women’s participation in the war effort: “The simple headquarters of a Grant or Lee were gone forever.  An Army of filing clerks, stenographers, office managers, telephone operators, and chauffeurs had become essential, and it was scarcely less than criminal to recruit these from needed manpower when great numbers of highly qualified women were available.”^[2] The Army’s wishes were granted in 1942 when Congress passed PL 77-554 after much heated debate over the sanctity of gender roles, allowing for the creation of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps.^[3] A year later, on August 16th, 1943, Coughlin would join the all-female Army Corps.^[4]

Especially during the early years of the WAAC, women were treated unequally to their male counterparts in the Army. The WAACs received similar pay to male soldiers stateside, but were exempted from benefits and faced sexist attitudes within the Army:

Stateside, enlisted women and men received the same basic rate of pay. However, women could not receive overseas pay and were ineligible for government life insurance. If they were killed, their parents could not collect the death gratuity. In the beginning, WAAC exceeded all its recruiting goals, but by June 1943, recruiting efforts had fallen. Higher paying jobs in civilian industry, unequal benefits with men, and attitudes within the Army itself – which had existed as an overwhelmingly male institution from the beginning – were factors.^[5]

As a result of the declining recruitment numbers, the Army had to make changes to entice women back into service. This came in the form of two bills which would make the WAAC into a part of the Army itself, rather than just an auxiliary support corps: “In January 1943, U.S. Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced identical bills in both houses of Congress to permit the enlistment and commissioning of women in the Army of the United States, or Reserve forces, as opposed to regular enlistments in the U.S. Army. This would drop the ‘auxiliary’ status of the WAAC.’”^[6] Thus, the Women’s Army Corps was born. Coughlin, who had remained enlisted despite the unequal treatment for women throughout this transition period, was now a soldier of the Army proper.

The service of Coughlin and the WACs was so adept and successful that it led to the full integration of the Army. Coughlin herself rapidly rose through the ranks, earning the rank of chief warrant officer and a place in the office of Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall in the Pentagon. Throughout the Army, the opinion prevailed that the WACs performed administrative duties more effectively than their male counterparts and were integral to the Army’s success in the war. The WACs themselves, despite the disparity they had faced earlier in pay and benefits, found the Army to be a more egalitarian environment than the civilian working world. Perhaps this taste of equality, more than anything else, spurred such impressive service from the WACs that women would forevermore be allowed to serve in the Army:

More than 150,000 of these courageous, pioneering women served with the Women’s Army Corps during World War II, most gladly and without regret.  Their effectiveness led to the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which guaranteed women a permanent place in the military services.  Then, in 1978, the Army abolished the WAC and fully subsumed women into the Regular Army.^[7]

Coughlin would continue her service through the end of the Second World War, and into the beginning of the Korean War. Her service in the Army ended on March 31st, 1953.^[8]

Upon returning home, Coughlin co-owned the Coughlin Business Service in Davenport, Iowa for twenty-five years. She was a member of the American Legion AmVets No. 151 in Bettendorf, IA, as well as Davenport’s St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. She passed away on September 18th, 1986, at the Ridgecrest Health Care Center in Davenport, and was survived by several nieces and nephews.^[9] Elizabeth A. Coughlin leaves a legacy of service to her nation in the hour of its greatest need, as well as the tenacity to endure prejudice while proving that women are capable of being great soldiers.