Their Story
Mary Armstrong was born on November 16, 1919, to Lew and Bessie Armstrong in Guymon, Oklahoma.[1] Armstrong graduated from high school after four years, though which high school she attended is not recorded. Before her military service began, she worked as a Cake Wrapper.[2] After the United States became engaged in the raging global conflict of World War II, however, Armstrong traded her baker’s apron for an Army uniform to serve the U.S. in the fight against the Axis Powers.
Mary Armstrong served with the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in World War II. After the United States declared war on the Empire of Japan in retaliation for their attack on Pearl Harbor, the country had to prepare for total war across Europe and the Pacific. As a result, U.S. military and government officials had the task of maximizing the manpower of the Armed Forces, specifically men capable of serving in combat roles. Across all branches of service, the answer was to open the opportunity to serve in non-combat roles to women.
Armstrong followed this opportunity by enlisting with the Army’s female contingent, the WAC, in 1944, where she served in the Army Air Forces. She was divorced at that time.[3] Though there were female pilots, Armstrong does not appear in any of their class books, so it is likely that she served in one of a number of non-flight roles offered to women:
Women became mechanics (both vehicle and aircraft), parachute riggers, air traffic control operators, drivers, and some even became instructors teaching male service members specialties such as aerial gunnery… In all, there were over 200 jobs available to women in service, providing them with skills that gave their postwar lives more possibilities.[4]
A total of 150,000 WACs served the Army by the end of the Second World War, freeing up as many men for combat service against the Axis.[5] By serving in important non-combat roles, Armstrong and the WACs were able to bolster combat manpower so that the United States could win the war.
Armstrong continued to serve in the Air Force through its transition period around the Korean War. The Air Force became a separate branch from the Army when President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947. As an auxiliary to the new Air Force, the Women’s Air Force (WAF) was created. Though women could serve as pilots during World War II, WAFs were restricted to non-flight roles.[6] Armstrong is recorded as enlisting with the WAFs on December 30, 1949; meaning that she either took a break from military service in the years following World War II, or stayed with the Army until this date. In either case, she was a WAF when the U.S. engaged in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.[7] In this conflict, she either served in a medical capacity on the Korean Peninsula, or in a support role on Japan or in the U.S.:
During the Korean War… the only Air Force women permitted to serve in the Korean battle zone were medical air evacuation nurses… women carried out support roles at rear-echelon bases in Japan. They were air traffic controllers, weather observers, radar operators and photo interpreters. Nurses served stateside, and flight nurses served in the Korean theater. By the end of the Korean War… 12,800 WAF officers and enlisted women were serving worldwide.[8]
Much like in World War II, the efforts of women in the Air Force helped to free up servicemen for combat positions, a great boost for the manpower of the Air Force. During the War, Armstrong married Willard Lanham in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1952.[9] Two months before the War’s end, Mary Lanham received her discharge from the Air Force on May 29, 1953.[10]
Mary Lanham spent the remainder of her life raising her two sons with Willard, and working as a bookkeeper. She primarily worked doing taxes for H&R Block and also as a self-employed bookkeeper. She also served the Air Force once again as a recruiter for some time. Mary Lanham died on March 19, 2000, eleven years after her husband, in Bettendorf, Iowa. She was survived by her sons, sisters, a brother, and nine grandchildren.[11] On March 19, 2000 Mary left behind a legacy of selfless service when her country needed brave women trailblazers for future female military enlistments.
[1] 21 Mar 2000, 20 – Quad-City Times at Newspapers.com
[2] “Mary Armstrong in the 1940 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (Ancestry, 2012).
[3] U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 – Ancestry.com
[4] Kali Martin, “It’s Your War, Too: Women in World War II,” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (The National World War II Museum, March 13, 2020),; “About the WASP,” Women Airforce Service Pilots Official Archive – Texas Woman’s University, accessed July 21, 2022.
[5] Kali Martin, “It’s Your War, Too: Women in World War II,” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (The National World War II Museum, March 13, 2020).
[6] Martha Lockwood, “Women’s Legacy Parallels Air Force History,” Air Force, September 18, 2014.
[7] “Mary Lanham in the U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010,” Ancestry, 2011.
[8] Martha Lockwood, “Women’s Legacy Parallels Air Force History,” Air Force, September 18, 2014.
[9] “Mary Lanham,” Quad-City Times, March 21, 2000, p. 20.
[10] “Mary Lanham in the U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010,” Ancestry, 2011.
[11] “Mary Lanham,” Quad-City Times, March 21, 2000, p. 20.