Frances Cannizzaro Military Record

What's the difference between WAAC and WAC?

You may have noticed in the above news items that sometimes the acronym WAAC is used instead of WAC. Both refer to the corps of women serving with the army, or to a member of that corps. But the extra 'A' stands for 'Auxiliary'.

The Women's Army *Auxiliary* Corps was established in May 1942 as a paramilitary organization supporting the regular army, but not truly a part of it. The flaws of this design quickly became apparent. Though these women served in many of the same roles as male soldiers, they received less pay and no military benefits.

The following year, Congress passed another bill granting it full military status—and it dropped the second 'A'.

So, 'WAAC' is used when talking about events or women who served in 1942 and part of '43 and 'WAC' for everything after.

The tricky part is this: though the bill passed in July of 1943, the conversion wasn't fully complete until September 30th. So, there were contemporaneous WAACs and WACs. Frances enlisted in March of 1943.