Mary R. Stricklan was born in May 1919 in Georgia [Annotator's Note: Gordon County, Georgia]. Growing up there was tough but they had loving people. Her mother was a housewife, and her father was a farmer. There were five children, two boys and three girls. She played with her animals for fun. She adored cats and dogs. Stricklan was valedictorian of her class. There were not many people in each class. A lot of the teachers were people she knew. She went to business college after high school. She was good in math, and it was something that she liked. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Stricklan where she was when she heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.] Stricklan was in lunchroom in Columbus, South Carolina and heard about it over the radio. She was worried. She only knew what she learned in school about Japan and the lifestyle of the people there.

Mary R. Stricklan joined the WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] because she thought it was romantic to wear a uniform. She heard about them in school. She was there soon after the beginning. She thought it would be fun. She applied and had to pass a physical. She was underweight, and the doctor told her to eat bananas and drink milk to gain the pounds she needed. It worked. She had her first "female" exam [Annotator's Note: an examination of female reproductive anatomy] there. She was trained to take a man's place in the service. She went to Polytechnic College in Russellville, Arkansas [Annotator's Note: now Arkansas Tech University Russellville Campus]. She lived in barracks and slept in bunk beds. The food was delicious, and she gained weight. The classes were held in the daytime and sometimes at night. After that, Stricklan went to Fort Oglethorpe [Annotator's Note: Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia] where she had trained previously. From there, she went to Nashville, Tennessee and into Army Administration. She was doing office work, mostly in math. She did not have women supervisors. It was mostly women workers. She worked there for several weeks and then was transferred to type war bonds [Annotator's Note: debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war] for soldiers. She was glad to be filling out a form that would later be valuable to the person it was for.

Mary R. Stricklan's uniform [Annotator's Note: in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) then Women's Army Corps (WAC)] was very plain. The skirt was a little past the knee and made of Army material. She wore a cap. It was cold in Nashville [Annotator's Note: Nashville, Tennessee], and they wore gloves. She caused the wearing of gloves to happen at Oglethorpe [Annotator's Note: Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia]. They were on a march and there were going to be a lot of people watching. They were told not to wear gloves and it was very cold. She was not in quite a year because her father became very ill. Her mother could not care for him by herself. The officers made it so that she could go home with three months leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. Then her father passed away and her mother was concerned about her being in the service and did not want her to leave the country. Stricklan had a friend in Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington D.C.], and that friend asked Stricklan if she would take the civil service test. She made a high mark, and she went to Washington to work in the Pentagon [Annotator's Note: the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, located in Washington D.C.]. She processed work orders and checked them to make sure they were what the Army needed. She was not part of the WACs at this time. She worked for in the Pentagon for two to three years. She went home to get married. Her husband had been in service, and they married after the war ended. She had left Washington and was back home.

Mary R. Stricklan celebrated V-E Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945] with her future husband. His family had a car, and they went to Lake Murray [Annotator's Note: Lake Murray, South Carolina] and that is where they decided to get married. The WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] had the old barracks that had individual showers. She kept up with several of the women for a long time. There were five of them that worked in an office, and they kept in touch. They worked together at the Signal Corps [Annotator's Note: US Army Signal Corps]. After she got married, she stayed home because she had a son that was born premature. When he was two or three, she returned to work in Forest Acres [Annotator's Note: Forest Acres, South Carolina] where she lived. Her most memorable experience of World War 2 was when she was dressed in a frilly, white dress and waiting for her date to pick her up. Retreat happened [Annotator's Note: the end of the duty day signaled by the playing of "Retreat", a military bugle call, followed by the National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner"] and a soldier told her she had to salute. She questioned it, and he reached down to get his gun. She decided to do what he said. She never had any problems with her male superiors. Stricklan served because it was exciting to wear the uniform and to travel. The war changed her life. She got married to a nice man. She thought serving was the thing to do. She was disappointed that her family did not want her to continue on with the service. World War 2 means that America has the freedom that other countries do not. The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is important and should continue to teach the war to future generations because it was important and we [Annotator's Note: the United States] won.