Hello and welcome to the
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument Veterans Podcast.
I'm your host, Ranger Tom Engberg.
On this episode of the Veterans Podcast,
we present to you the story of Ms. Vivian “Milly” Bailey.
Former First Lieutenant Bailey
served with the Women's Army Corps from 1943 until 1946.
She then went on to a long career
with the federal government
retiring in 1975
from the Social Security Administration.
Sadly, Miss Bailey
passed away on May 1st, 2022,
at the age of 104 years old.
Fortunately,
we were able to sit down with Miss Bailey in 2021
with the help of our partners at BPI Productions.
In quite possibly her last interview,
she sat down with us and spoke to us
about her military service,
her personal experiences,
and her volunteer
work for active duty military service members.
Before we get started with this episode,
our special introduction comes from
Miss Nicole McHenry, the National Park Service,
Interior Regions three, four and five
Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion Manager.
Ms. McHenry.
Hello and good day.
My name is Nicole McHenry,
and I serve as the Relevancy, Diversity
and Inclusion Program Manager,
for the legacy Midwest region
of the National Park Service.
One of the parks that I have the honor of working
with is the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument.
I am equally as honored to introduce Mrs. Millie Bailey,
who was one of the first
African-American officers
in the Women's Army Corps.
Her story is one of perseverance and ingenuity,
and I would like to take this time
to thank her for her service to our nation.
The park site is currently recording interviews
with many Buffalo soldiers and military veterans.
This video will serve as part of an
of the interpretive exhibits
at the site and forever be a part of the legacy
conveyed at the park.
Mrs. Millie passed away shortly
after filming this interview at the age of 104.
She was truly a trailblazer
and we are forever grateful
that we were able to record her story.
Thank you, Mrs. Millie,
and thank you for tuning in,
and I hope you enjoy this edition of the
Veteran's Podcast.
Thank you, Ms. McHenry.
Now we present to you the Veterans Podcast
episode featuring former Women's Army Corps First Lieutenant,
Miss Vivian “Milly” Bailey.
I finished high school in 1934.
I was in Oklahoma and working in Oklahoma.
I wanted to serve my country,
but also jobs were very difficult to get in Tulsa
because everything was segregated.
So you didn't have great job opportunities
and I saw that as a chance
to get additional training
and to do some traveling.
I figured that would be a very good way to get
get training and experience.
I had basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa,
and then I was commissioned
in April of 43,
and my first assignment was in Alabama.
Everything was segregated, so I
trained with other Negro
private soldiers,
and we had a lot of different courses,
including ones
like mess,
mess training, how to run the mess hall,
working with people all the time.
You definitely will
form some friendships.
In fact,
one of the people who trained with me was also
the other
Negro officer in my,
officer candidate class
there were only two of us,
two Negro officers,
who were not yet officers
until we were commissioned in April of 43.
We trained together
and we were in OC school together.
From Fort McClellan,
I was transferred to Fort Benning, and again,
I was second in charge.
I was still a second Lieutenant,
and then I was selected
for Adjutant General School,
which is quite an honor,
and I've forgotten the total
length of the training there wasn't that long,
but once I finished that
I was promoted to first lieutentant
and I became the commander in charge
of the WAC detachment at Fort Benning.
As the commander in
chief, you just run the organization.
You're responsible for the organization
Women's Army,
Originally, it was Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.
And then in
September of 43, they dropped the word auxiliary
and we became the Women's Army Corps.
They did the same thing that the men did.
Most people,
when they hear about a woman being in the army,
they think it was like in World War One,
when I think the only job
the women had was nurses.
But at end, in the women,
in the WAC’s, women did the same jobs
that the men did, just about everything that the men did.
Maybe not everything, but just about everything.
They were postal workers, they would,
they drove trucks and they drove cars.
They worked at the dispenseries, so they did.
I personally can't think of any job that the men did
that they didn't do.
I was the second in command at that time.
I was a second lieutenant
and the first lieutenant
was the commanding officer
and I was second in command.
And of course, we just
we’re the people in charge
of the enlisted personnel,
and they had various jobs.
But as commanders,
we just supervised and managed the whole thing.
And one of my
extra duties there,
I was an assistant postal officer.
One reason that I
don't mind
being interviewed at times is there's
been so much misinformation put out about me.
At one point,
somebody put on the Internet that I was the first,
they use the term Black,
which I don't use, Black pilot.
And of course, that absolutely was not true,
I never tried to fly anything but a kite.
And I wasn't very good at that.
The other thing they have us
have had on the news is that I was the top
officer in the Women's Army Corps
and that too was not true.
I was not the top officer,
at the time that I was in the army,
the top Negro officer was Charity Adams.
I think her married name later was
Early or something.
She was the top Negro officer WAC,
and a wonderful person.
Of course,
I knew her because she was over all of us.
Yes, I knew Charity
and I had great admiration for her.
I had grown up in a segregated society.
All I had known all my life was segregation
and so it wasn't a new experience.
But at times it would occur to you that it's
ridiculous that I'm serving my country, but I'm segregated.
But it wasn't as hard for me
as it was for any of the people who
didn't live in
cities that was segregated.
Tulsa, you could draw a line
between the white part of Tulsa
and the Negro part.
So, segregation I lived with all my life.
Well,
there was everybody was, was segregated.
So there was discrimination everywhere
because the whole army,
all the people were segregated.
The only time that we were not segregated,
that I was not segregated
was when I was in A.G. school.
The commandant
of the A.G. school said
there would be no segregation under my command.
All of the other times
I and all the rest of the Negroes were segregated.
We stayed in barracks.
And then when we got to Fort McClellan,
rather than have us stay, the two WAC officers,
I tell you, I was second in command
and we should
have stayed with white WAC officers,
but rather than let us do that,
they gave us a house.
They gave us a three bedroom house
and bought new furniture for
I think they called it Duncan five.
And I told people I didn't even know
Furniture had a name before then,
but all of that was to keep us segregated
and we could either
call for our car
or we could ask for someone to come and drive us
so that the enlisted people stayed in barracks
and we stayed in this house.
It was a beautiful house.
And
of course in Fort Benning
again, we were segregated.
At Fort Benning, though
we had
we're in a building
where the offices were in the front part of it
and we had housing in the back, while the
women were in barracks.
Thank you for joining us for this
first episode of the Veterans Podcast
featuring former Women's Army Corps 1st Lieutenant,
Ms. Vivial “Milly” Bailey.
We look forward to you joining us
for the conclusion of this episode.
Until next time,
I'm your host, Ranger Tom Engberg.
Stay healthy.
Stay safe.