LOCK HAVEN — May 15 is the anniversary of the 1942 founding of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). The corps was initiated by U.S. Representative Edith Nourse Rogers (MA) to ensure that women who served in the Army would receive the rights and benefits of male soldiers. Congress approved her legislation to create WAAC. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law on May 15, 1942.

Although the WAAC law represented significant progress, the status of women in the military was far from parity with men. The WAAC had no military status. Women could not receive overseas pay and were ineligible for government life insurance. If women died in the line of duty, their parents could not collect the death gratuity.

Remedial legislation was passed and signed into law on July 1, 1943 to grant women all of the rank, privileges and benefits of their male counterparts. WAAC was renamed Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and became part of the U.S. Army.

At its height, WAC strength exceeded 99,000. There were primarily four fields of work: clerical, culinary, medical and transportation. Within a year of WAAC’s creation, over 400 types of jobs were open to women. Although women were banned from combat and combat zones, many served overseas. Their service was said to “free a man to fight.” Women’s duties often put them in harm’s way.

Forty-five Pennsylvania women died in the line of duty during World War II. Volunteers with the non-profit Stories Behind the Stars (www.storiesbehindthestars.org) have written memorials to honor the sacrifice of each.

Clinton County was home to one of them: Cpl. Charlotte R. Lucas.

Charlotte R. Lucas was born on Dec. 4, 1923 in Salona, to Claude Irvin and Hannah Emenhiser Lucas. Her parents were natives of Centre County.

Lucas had eight older siblings: brothers Tyson Leroy, Walter D. “Bud,” and George Kenneth and sisters Zelma, Beatrice, Ethel Viola, E. Maretta and Delphine Elizabeth. A younger brother was stillborn. Lucas’s father supported the household working in farming. Her mother was a homemaker.

Lucas was raised in Lamar Township. She attended two years of high school and became a sales clerk.

On May 29, 1944, Lucas enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps at Harrisburg, Pa. She was activated on June 21, 1944 and reported to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., one of five training centers established for the women’s corps. Lucas was assigned to the 3rd Women’s Army Corps Company.

The 3rd WAC Company was stationed at the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation in Virginia. The company’s members fulfilled many duties, including organizing the shipment overseas of soldiers, nurses and supplies, organizing arrivals and departures, travel housing and more.

Some WACs worked as secretaries, stenographers, vehicle mechanics, technicians, interpreters, dispatchers and inspectors.

In November 1945, the port debarked 127,000 people and over 152,000 tons of cargo.

Lucas was stationed at Camp Patrick Henry, Newport News, Va. The camp primarily was a troop staging ground for, and under the control of, the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation.

The camp also housed over 5,000 German and Italian prisoners of war between 1944 and 1945.

Lucas died in the line of duty on Nov. 9, 1945 at Station Hospital, Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia from injuries sustained when she was run over by a truck. Lucas was laid to rest at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Mill Hall, Pa.

She is memorialized on the Clinton County Honor Roll plaque of 190 World War II fallen at Riverbank Park, Lock Haven, Pa.

Stories Behind the Stars memorials are accessible for free on the internet and via smartphone app at gravesites and cenotaphs.

The non-profit organization is dedicated to honoring all 421,000 fallen Americans from World War II, including 31,000 from Pennsylvania.

To volunteer or to get more information, contact Kathy Harmon at kharmon@storiesbehindthestars.org or visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org.