As part of the We Honor Veteran Program, our VNA and hospice volunteers interviewed and pinned Nellie Irish. Nellie is proud of her family’s long history of serving in the military in honor of their country, the United States of America. She relates that she was actually shown a picture of her great grandfather along with his fellow soldiers. They were standing next to Abraham Lincoln in front of a tent during the Civil War. Within her immediate family, four of her brothers and one brother-in-law have served as well.
It was 1957, after graduating from high school, that Nellie herself felt the call to serve. At that time, she reports she was a small-town girl from Johnson VT who had never left home or seen much of the world outside her state.
She enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps. Referred to as WAC, this corps was established during WW II and remained a separate branch of the US Army until it was disbanded in 1978, when women were fully integrated into the regular army. WAC was primarily a separate corps/branch intended for women in non-medical administrative and clerical roles.
Nellie flew for the first time out of the now closed Barre-Montpelier VT airport. She was sent to Fort McClellan Alabama which served as the WAC basic training center. There she was provided with secretarial skills training before being permanently assigned to Fort Knox, TN.
One of the things that Nellie will always remember about that time was segregation. Something that she had not encountered in her small Vermont town. She was surprised to see women of color separated from the other women.
Another thing that stays in her memory is being able to attend live performances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN.
Nellie completed her commitment to serve in the WAC after 3 years. She was thankful that she left the service before they began sending troops to Vietnam. She went on to use her administrative skills when she worked in employment and social security services later on in her life.
Nellie is glad that she had been able to experience new places and opportunities as a result of serving in the army and to have carried on her family’s dedication to serving their country.
