Aleida Sharp is proud to have served her country, especially in a military service that no longer exists.

The United States Women’s Army Corps was created as an auxiliary unit on May 15, 1942, and upgraded to active-duty status a year later.

Up to 150,000 women enlisted in the Corps during World War II. Their primary duties were to serve as switchboard communications operators, mechanics and bakers.

Sharp, born in Puerto Rico, raised in Brooklyn, New York, and now living in Sciota, joined the Women’s Army Corp when she was 19 in 1973 and served until 1978.

“I first tried community college,” she said. “I was planning to be a mechanical technician until one day in a biology class we were going to dissect a cat. That was it for me and the end of my college days.”

Sharp then came upon an advertisement in a Reader’s Digest magazine for the recruitment for a women’s branch of the Army. “It was something different, but I couldn’t join without written consent from both of my parents. My mom said yes. My dad said no. Eventually he came around and he signed.”

She was sent for basic training to Fort McClellan in Alabama. “I loved the military life right from the beginning, except for one thing. We were given two blouses, two pairs of shorts and two skirts. We had to keep them looking perfect all day long. After formation and breakfast, starch and iron the uniform. After lunch, starch and iron the uniform again. After dinner, repeat.”

Although the WAAC was not a combat unit, Sharp was trained to fire an M16 rifle. She was transferred from Alabama to Fort Gordon in Georgia before she was deployed to an American Army base in Germany. It was there that she met Leslie, the man she would marry.

“He was stationed in the same company and he drove us and six WAACs back and forth to our barracks,” she said. “We fell in love together and were married in Germany.”

Sharp was then transferred to Fort Hood in Texas. She recalled a time when she had created a bit of chaos during a marching formation.

“We had to keep step with everyone else,” she said. “I was the shortest in size so I lined up in the back. When I got out of step, I could skip back in without anyone seeing me.

“One morning a vehicle pulls up in front of our formation. An officer steps out and speaks to our sergeant who was in command. Suddenly, he puts me in the front of the formation. I led the march very slowly so as not to fall out of step, which did not please the rest of the women in our unit. Later I would find that the officer in the vehicle was Gen. George Patton Jr.”

The WAAC did not get the approval of servicemen who argued that the women should be made available for their entertainment only. This attitude led to disbanding the Women’s Army Corp in 1978 so that women could be completely assimilated into the armed forces. That was the same year that Sharp retired from military service.

When asked if she believes women should be in combat alongside men, she gave this reply: “It would not have been what I wanted to do. But I defend the right of any woman who wants to fight for our country.”

She volunteers with the American Legion in Gilbert and stays busy in Zion Lutheran Church.

When Sharp speaks of her time in the WAAC, there’s a sense of joy in her words.

“These were the best years of my life and while I was enjoying it all, I met the man I would marry, too.”

The St. Luke’s Salute to Veterans feature is published on the last Saturday of every month. Nominate a veteran by emailing mgouger@tnonline.com.