Auxiliary Cook Completes Training
FORT DES MOINES, Iowa – Auxiliary Eva D. Cook of Terril, Iowa has completed training in the Bakers and Cooks School of the First Women’s Army Auxiliary Training Center here.
Auxiliaries attending Specialists schools are enrolled either in the Bakers and Cooks School, the Motor Transport School or the Administrative Specialist School.
In Bakers and Cooks School, Auxiliaries learn how to buy and prepare food, cut meat, and plan menus the Army way. Administrative Specialist School equips Auxiliaries with knowledge of military office routine necessary to carry on maintenance of Army records. WAACs attending Motor Transport School learn inspection maintenance and operation of Army trucks and motor vehicles.
Graduates of any of these specialized courses are ready for assignments to serve with the Army in noncombatant service.
Source: The Terril Record, Terril, Iowa, Thursday, March 18, 1943, Page 1
2 Iowans Re-enlist in WACS
The Spencer Army Recruiting office received a rare surprise when Miss. Eva Don Cook of Terril, Iowa walked into the office and reenlisted in the Women’s Army Corps. Miss Cook had 38 months previous service and said she never really felt right out of uniform. She retained her grade of Staff Sgt. and will be stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Staff Sgt. Cook is the first WAC to reenlist in the Seventh Service Command under the new provision authorizing WAC reenlistment. This fact has caused the personnel of the Spencer Recruiting station to feel rather proud of themselves.
Lt. Col. William V. Hannay, commanding officer of army recruiting in Iowa, tries out the chevrons on Eva Cook of Terril, first woman in the 7th Service Command to apply for re-enlistment in the WAC. Beside her is Betty Boyington, 3333 Grand Ave., who also signed for a second hitch Wednesday.
Reveille soon will be blowing again for Miss Betty J. Boyington, 3333 Grand ave., and Miss Eva Cook of Terril.
Both former WACs started their second enlistment Wednesday after being sworn in again at the army recruiting office in the Old Federal building here.
First to Apply
Miss Cook, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Cook, Terril, is the first former army woman in the 7th Service command to have applied for re-enlistment.
In mid-February the war department authorized re-enlistment of former WACs. They may re-enlist for (1) the duration and six months or (2) until September 1946.
Miss Cook, now Staff Sergeant Cook, re-enlisted for the duration and six months.
A mess sergeant, she learned the art at Fort Des Moines, and is “sweating out” transfer orders so she can practice it in the ETO.
Former Riveter.
She was riveting together Flying Fortresses at the Boeing plant in Seattle, Wash., before she joined the then WAAC in September, 1942. She stayed on when the organization became an integral part of the army in August 1943.
After basic training, Miss Cook was posted as a cadrewomam to the army air force depot at San Bernardino, Cal. She was discharged last November.
“I’ve been doing nothing since then. Just resting at my folks’ farm. And I haven’t been collecting $20 a week for it, either, like a lot of them do,” she said.
Miss Boyington, who re-enters the service as a corporal, first joined the WAC here in July, 1944. She was trained to be a radio mechanic, but ended up in the supply office of a Louisiana air base.
Husband Returns.
Miss. Boyington was discharged last December when her husband returned from Europe and was discharged. In January they were divorced and she resumed her maiden name.
She also is yearning for overseas duty – “Japan or Germany, it doesn’t matter to me” she said.
Source: Des Moines Sunday Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Sunday, June 16, 1946, Page 10 (photo included)
***Further Research:
Eva Dorthea Cook Miller was born Sept. 25, 1910 to Julius and Maggie Maas Cook. She died Sept. 26, 1983 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Terril, IA.
She was married to Gustav Carl Heinrich”Gus" Miller.
Source: ancestry.com
