Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D10441-3
Date(s)
- 1940-11-15 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
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Scope and content
Jan Peterson, lively stenographer at Gagliardi's office, is one of 90 members of Tacoma's newly organized National Service League. The League instructs women how to lend assistance in case of emergency and support the Home Defense Corps. The group is drilled twice a week by drill sergeants from Fort Lewis, who also instruct them in signalling and First Aid. The women also receive instruction in marksmanship and radio communications. Miss Peterson said that she liked the "glamour" of it all but when questioned about the dirt and grease of the required auto mechanics, she agreed that it was part of the job to get dirty and she didn't mind it at all. By February of 1941, the National Service League was declared a hoax by the Better Business Bureau. It existed to fleece women on the sale of "required" uniforms. The Tacoma branch split from the parent organization and continued on its own as the Women's Emergency Motor Corps, a vital part of the Tacoma Home Defense Movement. (T.Times 11/19/1940 p.1)
Peterson, Jan; World War, 1939-1945--Women--Tacoma; World War, 1939-1945--Civil defense--Tacoma; Women's Emergency Motor Corps (Tacoma);