Edna Smith (nee Miller)
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Edna Miller Smith enlisted in the Women''s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) on September 1, 1943. Home at entry: Duluth, Minnesota.
She served as a Technician Fifth Grade and telephone switchboard operator with the 6718th WAC Headquarters Platoon of the 6670th WAC Headquarters Company at Rome-Arno, Italy.
Mrs. Miller shared the following: "I was a military policeman for about four months. Because I had been a telephone operator at the Melrose exchange in Duluth, I was selected as part of a group of WACs to start overseas training.
"We moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, and started classes. We attended lectures, saw training films, had physical checkups, immunization shots and KP.
"We arrived at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, on December 22, 1943, and left Newport News on January 1, 1944....On January 9 we arrived in Casablanca, French Morocco...where the 6718th WAC Headquarters Platoon was formed.
"We flew to Tunis, Tunisia, January 23, 1944. The first WACs assigned were the switchboard operators in La Marsa. I reported to work there. We flew across the Mediterranean to Naples, Italy, and traveled by truck to Caserta.
"I worked shifts as a switchboard operator in an Air Corps trailer located behind the Royal Palace, the headquarters for the Allied Air forces. The majority of our work was secret and we learned never to discuss our work off the job.
"I visited Naples, Venice, Rome and the Vatican, Cassino, Anzio, and Benevento while on short passes....The switchboard closed after VE Day and I was transferred to Naples. VJ was declared shortly after my arrival there. I left Naples and was assigned at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.
"It was an honor and a privilege to serve my country and my service was a high point in my life. The friendships made during my overseas service have been long lasting and our company still has reunions...."
Mrs. Smith received the following: Good Conduct Medal, Woman''s Army Corps Service Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze battle star (Rome-Arno), World War II Victory Medal, and three overseas service bars.
She was honorably discharged on October 8, 1945, at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, 299.
