1. Mary Agnes Hallaren was an American soldier and the third director of the Women's Army Corps at the time that it became a part of the United States Army.
13 Facts About Mary Hallaren
1. 2.
Mary Hallaren graduated in 1925 from Lowell High School and attended Boston University and graduated from Lowell State Teachers College.
3.
Mary Hallaren taught junior high school for 15 years in Lexington, Massachusetts, spending her summers on vigorous walking tours, which she called vagabonding throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Europe.
4.
In 1942 Hallaren entered the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which later became the WAC.
5.
Mary Hallaren served as director of WAC personnel attached to the 8th and 9th Air Forces, and by 1945, as a lieutenant colonel, she commanded all WAC personnel in the European theater.
6.
Mary Hallaren had led the effort to obtain Regular Army and Reserve status for WACs.
7.
Mary Hallaren had directed the procedures for assimilating WACs into the regular and reserve components between 1948 and 1950; supervised the revival of WAC recruiting and the opening of the WAC Training Center; and led the Corps through most of the Korean War.
8.
Mary Hallaren was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Army Commendation Medal.
9.
Mary Hallaren served in the United States Department of Labor as director of the Women in Community Service division.
10.
Mary Hallaren retired in 1978 but continued to serve in an advisory capacity.
11.
Mary Hallaren was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1996 and was featured by Tom Brokaw in his book The Greatest Generation.
12.
Mary Hallaren died at the Arleigh Burke Pavilion, an assisted living facility for retired military personnel in McLean, Virginia.
13.
Mary Hallaren is buried in Saint Patrick Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts.