ALBERTA HILL
By Kate Hutchinson
Alberta Hill was born in Payette, Idaho in 1918 and grew up in Emmett. She graduated from the University of Idaho in 1939, then taught Vocational Home Economics at both Hailey and Preston High Schools. Her teaching in family and consumer sciences was interrupted by world events that followed Pearl Harbor. Hill had been teaching High School since the fall of 1939, continuing through June of 1943. "We anticipated after all the men teachers had been called to service, eventually women would be needed too. I didn't want to quit until the end of the school term in June and also wanted to be assured there was someone to take my place before I enlisted."
And enlist she did, along with three hundred and thirty-eight thousand other women who served in World War II. She joined the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), which changed later in 1943 to WAC or Women's Army Corp. The women in the WAAC had the choice of being discharged if they didn't want to be in the WAC. Hill stayed in.
She had Basic Training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. "The WAAC sent anyone with Home Economics in their resume, at either High School or College level, to Cooks and Bakers School for four weeks. After that I was sent to a Baker's Specialist Course. There was some talk of my enrolling in Officer Candidate School, but the Army had recruited too many people to Officer Training," Alberta explained.
Hill had taught for four years and she sat in Cooks and Bakers classes with two Home Economics graduates from Oregon State College, one who had taught nine years and the other a Dietitian major; a WSC (WSU) graduate who had taught three years; and several other Home Economics majors. Their Cooks and Bakers classes were taught by a woman whose emphasis had been in Clothing and Textiles and the Baker Specialist teacher had demonstrated food equipment in department stores.
Hill's training completed, she was assigned as a Baker in a WAC company mess hall at Fort Benning, Georgia, baking for about one hundred women. "We were often understaffed, due to poor leadership. So in addition to my Baker job which ran from four am until noon, I regularly had to serve as first or second Cook on the noon to noon shift. I therefore worked an average of about twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for thirteen months." Bakers and Cooks dealt with coal burning ranges and ovens. They had to start their own fires and clean out the ashes, besides wrestling around twenty-gallon stock pots.
But Alberta Hill did get relief from that grueling schedule. Unbeknownst to her, two women in her company who worked for Chaplains reported to their bosses about her long days and one of them got her transferred to clerical work, scheduled from eight to five. She was assigned to the First Student Training Regiment of the Infantry School, doing S2 (Intelligence) and PR (Public Relations) clerical work. The school was engaged in setting up and teaching classes for both officers and enlisted men on such subjects as transportation, electronics, and cryptography.
When she first reported as the Major's secretary in S2, there were three people working there, besides her. A day or two later the Major asked her to stay after hours. She feared she had been found wanting.
"Have you been busy?" he asked.
"No," was her honest reply.
"How many people do you think we need out there?"
"One," again her honest reply.
The next day when she reported for work, she was the only one doing so.
Her work included mail checks for security clearance and later on she interviewed returning POWs. The PR portion of her assignment had to do with outgoing information from the Regiment.
"It was an interesting office. We had officers coming in for training who were of equal or higher rank than those who were acting as company COs," she said. Because of the rank of persons in those companies, discipline was handled at the regimental level, another responsibility of the office in which she worked.
While she worked hard, Alberta Hill of WAC Detachment #2 recalls some good and fun experiences. And yet, the first Christmas she was at Fort Benning was the "most miserable" Christmas she ever had in her life. Most of the women in her detachment were working at the Headquarters Office of the Infantry School as replacements for men who had been Regular Army in clerical roles. Those clerks had been called to front line duty and some resented the women who were taking their jobs. One WAC often could replace three male stenos, causing no small degree of hard feelings in the office. "The men treated them awful. Morale was down also because of miserable company officers. And then on Christmas it rained ice. I remember having to chip ice off of the garbage cans on Christmas day in Georgia," said Alberta, shaking her head at that vivid memory.
Her second Christmas there, however, was one of the best she ever had. The situation had settled down for the women in her Company. There were new officers, the women had gotten acquainted, and they found ways to make Christmas a happy time. Both Protestants and Catholics attended Christmas eve services. Some of the women set up two foot-lockers to serve as beverage bars for Christmas cheer. On Christmas eve they got on a post bus and took gifts to women in other WAC detachments. "The Jewish women on base volunteered for Christmas KP," Alberta smiled, remembering that kind deed.
Asked about recollections of funny things, Alberta told the story of an officer who decided the WACs were "not very military" since Privates, Staff Sergeants, whatever rank all were good friends and sat together in the mess hall. Well, that was deemed improper. So the officer had signs put up to separate the women by rank. A KP crew decided to "support" the officer by also segregating the #10 garbage cans by rank. They elaborately decorated one for high ranking officers, then more sparsely decorated ones on down the line, finally having NO can for privates, just a sign reading: "Privates: Dig a Hole and Bury Your Garbage." So ended that official attempt to segregate the WACs in the mess hall.
Alberta Hill found great value in her military service. When she enlisted she became a part of a group of people from a wide variety of social, economic, cultural, religious, racial, and moral backgrounds. "I found I was not just looking at other people, but I was one of a diverse group."
Fun for Hill, besides sitting on her bunk and learning to knit along with most of her squad room, also included opportunities to travel while on furlough. She saw Washington, DC, New York City, Atlanta, and St. Augustine.
She also got acquainted with Columbus, Georgia, the city nearest Fort Benning. "I was horrified at the black housing situation," she said of her first observation of racial discrimination as it was some sixty years ago. That discrimination carried through into the opportunity to purchase goods on base or in town. "I noticed it ran like this: white male officers, white women officers, white civilians, white enlisted, black military, and finally black civilians."
Alberta Hill's military career came to a close after V-J Day ended the war in August of 1945. She was transferred to California by train where she was discharged in Marysville in February 1946. She returned to Idaho where she decided to take advantage of the G.I. Bill for graduate study.
She spent the summers of '46, '47, and '48 at the Square G Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She cooked, then was a maid, then the third summer ran the restaurant. From then until she went to the College of Education at WSU in 1969, she pursued doctorate studies and taught at various colleges and universities across the country, as well as working for the U.S. Office of Education. In 1974 she was named Dean of the College of Home Economics where she served full-time until 1983. In the next two years she continued on a part-time basis, participating in WSU programs, including one in Indonesia. She remains active in church work and continues to participate in professional organizations including the International Federation of Home Economics.