My Mama Wore Combat Boots!
Cyndee Schaffer, the co-author of the memoir, Mollie’s War: The Letters of a World War II WAC in Europe, asks, “How many of us remember this childhood taunt: ‘Your mama wore combat boots’ when we were in elementary school?
Cyndee’s mama really did wear combat boots! Mollie Weinstein Schaffer is on the right. Taken in Normandy.
“Well, I was the only one of my friends whose mother served in the military in WW II,” she said. “The kids in school learned quickly that my mother did wear combat boots! It wasn't a taunt to me. It was the truth!
Cyndee proudly shared her mother’s experiences during a Veterans Day program co-sponsored by Friends of the Edgewater Library and Edgewater Village Chicago in partnership with the Edgewater Branch Library.
Mollie’s War includes letters written home during the war while Mollie worked as a medical secretary in England, France, and Germany. Mollie was one of more than 300,000 women who served in the U.S. Armed forces during WW II, about half of them were in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the women’s branch of the U.S. Army.
Cyndee said, “I hope that people get a better understanding of what the women did who served in WW II. They volunteered and were not drafted. They served because they felt it was their patriotic duty to serve their country. They helped to shape future generations of women and advance women's equality.”
She also suggested that individuals take time to learn about how their parents related to the world around them during their youth and young adulthood. “It is so important to ask your parents and other relatives questions and listen to their answers. Like most of her generation, my mother didn’t talk about her service.”
Watch a replay of the program in our See Us | Video Gallery.
Resources
U.S. Army Women's Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia. For research, education, and to donate memorabilia.
Pritzker Military Museum & Library in Chicago.
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