Reservist, WWII vet recalls service to country

  • Published
  • By TSgt. Gerald Sonnenberg
  • 932 AW
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  Their service to this nation during World War II is represented by the image of “Rosie the Riveter.” However, American women did much more than fill in for the millions of men in the armed services. More than 350,000 of them were volunteers who served in uniform. 

Viola B. Smith, a recreational director from Grant, Fla., was one of those volunteers. She was a vibrant and energetic 24-year-old when she enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1944. Her brother was a welder and one of the 1,150 civilian contractors captured on Wake Island when it was taken by the Japanese in 1941 after a 15-day siege. She enlisted because of him. 

“I didn’t hear from him, and I wanted to do something to bring him home,” she said. “I wanted to join something that went overseas.” 

She joined the WAACs (later the Women’s Army Corps) with the desire to be a first sergeant. Instead, “Smitty,” as she came to be called, was commissioned a second lieutenant and became the company commander of dozens of young women. Soon, 500 WAACs and 18,000 men were crammed onboard the refitted troopship RMS Queen Elizabeth sailing out of New York and headed for Europe. 

Describing the conditions, Smitty said, “We were chased by German submarines, and we weren’t told where we were going. To conserve fresh water, we washed with salt water, and I bunked with the four other women officers in a former bathroom. I was on the bottom underneath four hammocks.” 

Without an escort, the ship relied on its speed to protect its human cargo, and the QE1 arrived about a week later in Scotland, on June 6, to the news that the invasion of Europe had begun. 

Thirty of the women, including Smitty, were assigned to the 5th Army Airways Communications System based in London. The unit provided communications and air traffic control for the 8th Air Force. 

As the “CO,” Smitty said her first job was to find the WACs a place to live. “I found them a place on Harley Street, which was on ‘doctor’s row,’” she said. “All the girls were independent 21-year-olds, so I didn’t have to worry about them too much.” 

Smitty said their first weekend in London was spent with their “heads under their pillows” as “buzz bombs” or German V1 rockets flew overhead. Some time later, one of these bombs exploded in Hyde Park sending shards of glass flying and two of her troops to the hospital. The two were later awarded the Purple Heart. 

Smitty organized the women into a 5th AACS company performing teletype operations, and working as drivers and administrative specialists six days a week. Smitty used a razor blade to censor mail dealing with sensitive military issues that soldiers wrote home about. They worked long hours while in London seemingly dodging the V1s then V2s more often as the allies pressed their advantage across the Channel. 

Many GIs found love in England, as did Smitty. Capt. Dewey McClellan was an AACS pilot, and their whirlwind romance resulted in a wedding. Dewey stood proudly in his uniform and Smitty wore a dress from the Red Cross that she had to turn in afterward for another bride to wear. Her shoes were handmade by another soldier, and the members of her company saved their ration cards for three months so the couple could have a cake. 

After VE day in May 1945, Smitty and other 5th AACS WACs helped set up the headquarters in Wiesbaden before heading home on a B-17 in the fall. Dewey was the pilot. But her homecoming was bittersweet. 

“I found out after the war that my brother never left Wake,” she said. “He was one of 98 civilian prisoners gunned down by the Japanese in October 1943.” 

Back in the United States, now Capt. Smitty McClellan joined the reserves and was later recalled to duty. She also followed her husband where his active duty assignments took them, and they raised a family. 

The family eventually settled in Midwest City, Okla. Dewey retired from the Air Force after 28 years, then went on to teach high school, and served as the newsletter editor, historian and amateur radio coordinator for the AACS Alumni Association. He died in 1998. 

Still vibrant in her 80s, Smitty takes on a more serious tone when she talks about the pride she feels in having served her country. 

“Serving my country as a volunteer during World War II was a big achievement for me,” said Smitty. “We all had a job to do and stayed with it until it was over—mission accomplished.”