She was a trailblazer in WWII

Margaret Barker sat at her wooden dining room table, flipping through a scrapbook filled with World War II-era photos and newspaper clippings.

At about 4 feet 10 inches tall, the 97-year-old appeared small and frail. But a picture on the front cover of the scrapbook — of a younger, late-20s Barker — signified a time when she showed her strength as a first sergeant in charge of one of the first all-female, all-black companies in the Army.

The Garden Grove resident said that when she joined the military in 1942, women served “to help the men” by taking over as clerks, typists and cooks and filling other non-infantry jobs.

“Our purpose was to take the place of the guys that were stationed on Angel Island,” she said of the location near San Francisco that served as a military fort. “There were two permanent men’s personnel there, but we were kind of sandwiched between.”

Within a year, Barker found herself with the title of first sergeant. On Friday, the Boston native will travel to Washington, D.C., with 19 other World War II veterans and their caretakers on the first-ever Honor Flight Southland. She will be the only female veteran on the flight.

Since 2005, Honor Flight trips have taken WWII veterans to Washington to view the national war memorial, free of charge, though the program didn’t come to Orange County until almost 10 years later.

“It’s kind of sad in a way, even to talk about it,” Barker said of the flight. “I kind of put [my memories] in the background a little bit. I miss everyone. We had a nice group of girls.”

Barker said she signed up for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) with a friend in 1942 when she was in her mid-20s.

In 1943, WAAC was changed to the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), giving Army women official military status even as they performed the same non-infantry duties. Any women who wished to stay had to re-enlist.

“When they changed, that was a big thing,” Barker said. “You got to know somebody, and if they didn’t want to go, they didn’t have to. My girlfriend’s idea of going into the service was to help the men. But when she got there and we were in a company and in an office, she said she didn’t want to do it anymore.”

Barker stayed and made her way up to first sergeant, making $138 a month.

“At that time, we did whatever the company commander said because we were just floundering anyway,” she said. “But we were doing OK. It was just like the Army. The only bad part was getting up at 6 in the morning. You should have seen the girls. You’re supposed to be fully dressed, right? They’d wear their pajamas under their coats and run out.”

She said the women were akin to a second family, and she tried to make them comfortable by purchasing furniture from the Salvation Army for their day room. Some of her fondest memories were of marching with her all-black, all-female company, which was segregated from the white companies.

Still, the women showed enthusiasm, and Barker said she never witnessed any obvious racial prejudice between the black members and the white sergeants, despite the time period.

“The girls would come in at night and want to march, and I’d say, ‘Get out of here, I’m busy,’” she said. “They would beg me to go and march. They had a drive to participate, human to human, in spite of the social stigmas.”

Barker, who moved to Orange County in 1954 when her husband found a manufacturing job here, said she has noticed a lack of female veterans at events, so she isn’t surprised about being the only woman on the Honor Flight Southland.

“I’m always with the guys anyway,” she said. “Not many female veterans come around anymore. I don’t understand why. Are they all in hiding? They were in the service. The men tend to be the ones that go to these clubs.”

Craig Van Doren, chairman and co-founder of Honor Flight Southland, said he believes the explanation is that there aren’t many WWII veterans left.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 600 WWII vets are dying every day in the U.S.

Van Doren was inspired to begin an honor flight program for Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in April 2014, when he began accepting applications for this inaugural flight, after following the Honor Flight’s success for 10 years in other parts of the country.

The Honor Flight trip will arrive in Washington on Friday, and the veterans will visit the memorial on Saturday. On Sunday, when the return flight lands at LAX at about noon, Van Doren anticipates that the veterans will be greeted by hundreds of supporters.

Van Doren encourages members of the public to visit Southwest Air Terminal 1 by about 11:45 a.m. Sunday.

Van Doren said the flight is essential for veterans because it allows them closure and gives them “the welcome-home ceremony that they never got.”

“A lot of these guys are tough cookies,” he said. “It reduces these men and women to tears.”

Van Doren said Honor Flight Southland is planning another flight in October and is accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis through its website, https://www.honorflightsouthland.org.