Jungers finds sisters in WAC

SEELEY LAKE – A random incident propelled Seeley Lake resident Lynne Jungers into the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was still in high school in Eastern Kentucky when she happened to see a WAC walk by. Jungers stopped her to tell her how much she admired seeing her in uniform.

Jungers said, "I didn't even know her name. I just knew she was from my hometown." And the woman said, "You know, you could do the same thing."

Jungers decided that was exactly what she was going to do as soon as she got out of high school. True to that resolution, in 1968, two weeks after graduation, Jungers enlisted in the Women's Army Corps.

She spent three years as a WAC. Having opted for a secretarial track, most of those years were spent in Oakland, Calif. typing up orders for soldiers being sent to Vietnam.

"It was sad, really," Jungers said, referring to the high casualty rate and the general unpopularity of that war.

The happier memories for her involved basic training, which took place at Fort McClellan, Ala. Jungers said a whole planeload of women arrived from Sacramento, Calif. at the same time she reported for basic training. A lot of recognition, including a special insignia flag, was given to them because of the large recruitment. In addition, two of the actors from the popular TV show "I Dream of Jeannie," Hayden Rorke who played Dr. Bellows, and Barbara Eden who played Jeannie, took all the girls out to dinner one evening. Jungers said she and one other woman from West Virginia ended up in the same barracks with the California group and got to share in their glory.

Basic training for the WACS was patterned after that given to the men – lots of marching, exercises and drills.

"We marched everywhere we went," Jungers said. "And at that time, we wore skirts. We did not wear fatigue uniforms. We had the garrison hats and the skirts. And they had to be ironed every day."

In an orienteering exercise, the WACS were abandoned in the woods and had to use compasses to find their way back. Another exercise was the gas mask drill in which they were left in a room and exposed to gas and had to get their masks on as quickly as possible while the vapors stung their eyes and assaulted their nostrils.

That particular drill was primarily aimed at women who chose to go to Vietnam, even though they would not be combatants. Jungers said at that time, going to Vietnam was an option available to WACs, not something imposed on them as it was for the men. She said her mother begged her not to go to Vietnam and she honored that request.

During basic training, the women and men were kept strictly separated. It was only in the last week that the two groups were allowed to mingle at a military supervised dance event.

Throughout training, WACs had their own female drill sergeants and separate mess hall arrangements. Jungers said, "Being in the military with all women, there's a connection that forms. We're like sisters. We had wonderful drill sergeants who were very hard on us, yet sometimes they would come in and just talk with us and just be a part of us. It was awesome. But when it was time to be on duty, they turned back to being pretty tough.

Jungers said she made a lot of friends and developed strong bonds with many of the women both in basic and where she was stationed afterwards. She said she still stays in contact with some of them and they all wish they could live their military years all over again.

Jungers herself said, "[Becoming a WAC] was the best thing I ever did and I would love to go back and do it all over again." She felt the experience of military and secretarial training as well as contacts with women of different backgrounds and life experiences matured her and taught her a lot about the world.

After leaving the military, Jungers met an Army soldier who had just returned from Vietnam. They soon married and he brought her back to his hometown in Kalispell. Her secretarial training proved useful since she got a job in that field. Though her first marriage ended in divorce, she later married John Jungers and they settled in Seeley Lake.