Oral history interview of Emma Davis Hamilton

In this interview, Emma Davis Hamilton recalls her experiences serving in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) and later the United States Army after the WAC was incorporated into the Army in 1978. She recalls her background and growing up years in Belle Glade, Florida, and how she helped her mother care for the children of field workers every day. She remembers discovering encyclopedias in elementary school that sparked her desire to see more of the world. She was determined to attend Howard University and describes how she managed to enter the military through a little-known ROTC-related program for women. She describes basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and her first duty serving as a training officer there. She recalls getting orders to Germany after the WACs were incorporated into the regular Army and describes an incident in which she was sexually assaulted, but fought off her attacker who ended up in the hospital. She remembers transferring to an intelligence unit and the various commanding officers and enlisted personnel with whom she worked, some of whom were very supportive and others who were distinctly unhappy with women serving in the Army. She describes the military's early attitudes toward homosexuality and how that changed over time and how her attitudes toward homosexuality changed from her Pentecostal upbringing to her experiences working with homosexual soldiers in the Army. She requested a transfer to the Medical Services Corps to have a better chance of remaining with her Army husband. She describes her work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in hospital administration and some of the unethical and discriminatory practices she saw there. She recalls her reasons for deciding to retire from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1993 and describes some of her experiences traveling in Europe and how her love of family history developed and grew. She reflects on her experiences in the military and how her service has informed the rest of her life and expresses hope that young people today will seriously consider serving in the military. WAC; BOQ; "diddy bops"; Army Equal Opportunity Program; Gulf War Emma Davis Hamilton served as an officer in the WAC and the United States Army from 1970-1993.