On October 22, 1943, a group of 125 women gathered on the steps of the United States Capitol to take the oath of enlistment into the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Framed by the monumental backdrop of the Capitol, the mass ceremony projected a powerful public symbol of women formally entering military service during World War II.
The historic gathering followed pivotal legislation enacted earlier that year, which converted the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) into the Women’s Army Corps. This structural shift granted members official military status within the Army itself, elevating them from an auxiliary organization merely serving alongside the military to an integrated branch of the service.
Across the global theater, WAC members performed vital noncombat roles in administration, communications, technical maintenance, and specialized intelligence fields. By filling these critical positions, they met the Army’s surging personnel demands and successfully released men for frontline combat assignments. More than 150,000 women ultimately donned the uniform, permanently redefining the scope of women’s contributions to American military operations.
The Capitol steps ceremony captured this profound wartime transformation in a single frame. While the event did not establish a permanent peacetime presence for women in the Regular Army—a milestone that required separate legislation in 1948—it codified a historic turning point: American women taking the military oath as full, recognized members of the United States Army.
Image: Women take the WAC oath on the Capitol steps, October 22, 1943
A cohort of 125 women takes the official oath of enlistment into the Women’s Army Corps on the steps of the United States Capitol. Photographed by the prominent studio Harris & Ewing, the ceremony took place shortly after Congress granted WAC members official military status within the U.S. Army, replacing the earlier auxiliary framework.
