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Sarah Smith transcript, February 10, 2003, Date accessioned: 2003-02-25, bulk 1943-1945

 

Summary

Creator:
Smith, Sarah Aline Hillman, September 17, 1917 - June 14, 2007
Bendeck, Whitney
Chapo, Pamela Sue
Extent:
1 folders 1 folder
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Sarah Smith Transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-03-1934

Background

Scope and content:

This oral history interview transcript relates to Sarah Smith who joined the Women's Army Corps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and was discharged in 1945 with the rank of Tech Sergeant. She served both in North Africa and Italy. Smith details her experiences during her training in Florida as well as during her service in North Africa and Italy. Smith explains the reception to her enlistment from her family and community as well as the valuable opportunities that her service gave her in seeing more of the world.

Biographical / historical:

Sarah Aline Hillman was born on September 17, 1917, in Union, Mississippi. She worked for the US Engineer Corps before the war and was rejected after an initial attempt to join the U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After her enlistment into the Women's Army Corps in 1943, Hillman trained in Florida and served overseas at Casablanca with the rank of Private First Class. Hillman traveled throughout the Mediterranean and eventually headquartered in Bari, Italy, to work in Commanding General Nathan Twining's office. Hillman returned to the US in 1945 with the rank of Technical Sergeant and went on to receive a degree in business from Mississippi State University, where she met her husband Albert Reid Smith. Smith remained involved with her military background by becoming the treasurer of the Oveta Culp Hobby Chapter of the Women's Army Corps Veteran's Association and a charter member of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation in Washington D.C.. Sarah Hillman Smith passed away on June 14, 2007, and is buried at the Restland Memorial Park in Dallas, Texas.

Custodial history:

This transcript was gifted by the Reichelt Program for Oral History.

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Sarah Smith Transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-03-1934

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA