Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas San Diego, Ca. March 2012

Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas San Diego, Ca. March 2012
Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas at Luche Libre Taco Shop in San Diego, March 2012

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Charity Earley Wouldn't Back Down


Charity Earley
 Joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
When she was just 23
It was 1942 and the world was at war

She had entered a man's world
Of hate and oppression and resentment
Toward her
By the very men she sought to help
In the very country she sought to defend

She had majored in Math and Physics at the University
So they made her an officer
She became a commanding officer
And then, as a Major, a battalion commander

Everyday she was presented with challenges
And everyday she handled them with grace
Most days the Army respected her rank
Some days the Army men would not
Still she soldiered on

In service to her country she went to England
In 1945 she was in Paris on VE day
And celebrated VJ day in Rouen
With the troops in her command.

She had served her country against an enemy
That may have appeared no different than those
She had at home
The ones who had threatened her and her family
And still thought of her as second class

When the war ended they wanted her in the Pentagon
To serve in the headquarters of the Women's Army Corps
But Charity had enough of the Military grind
She left the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel

The highest ranking African-American female WWII officer in the WACs

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