The Women’s Army Corps Service Medal was a decoration of the United States Army which was created on July 29, 1943 by Executive Order 9365 issued by President Franklin Roosevelt. The decoration was intended to recognize the contribution of women to the Army during the Second World War. The profile featured on the medal is that of the goddess Pallas Athena.
The Women’s Army Corps Service Medal was awarded to any service member who was a member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps between July 10, 1942 and August 31, 1943 or the Women's Army Corps between September 1, 1943 and September 2, 1945. The medal was issued as a once-awarded decoration, and there are no devices authorized for additional presentations. The medal ranked in precedence under the American Defense Service Medal and ahead of the American Campaign Medal.
The Women’s Army Corps Service Medal is considered obsolete as the United States Army is a combined service and no longer maintains any separate service corps for women, although it may still be worn by those who served.
Famous quotes containing the words women, army, corps and/or service:
“When a woman marries again it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The army is always the same. The sun and the moon change. The army knows no seasons.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)
“I can counterfeit the deep tragedian,
Speak, and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion. Ghastly looks
Are at my service like enforced smiles,
And both are ready in their offices
At any time to grace my stratagems.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)