Women Who Serve feature
Story by Leah Power • Photographed by Laura McBryde Gainey
Lenora
HAMER
AS I LOOK AROUND LENORA HAMER’S WARMLY DECORATED HOUSE,
one thing that stands out is the amount of life that one person’s home
can hold. I don’t mean it in the typical way with children yelling, a dog
barking, and the phone ringing. It’s just Lenora now, but although her
daughter is grown and her husband has passed, I can’t help but feel as if
I’ve stepped into someone’s life and memories. The pictures on the walls,
trinkets perfectly placed on table tops, and a beautiful lacy table cloth
seem to tell a story that I’ve only begun to uncover. A story built upon the
word yes.
You see, Lenora Hamer isn’t one to turn away from opportunities. While
enrolled in Coker College, a close friend propositioned Lenora about joining the WAC (Women’s Army Corp). Not one to stand idly by, she jumped at
the chance and the two were soon speeding off down the highway in her
Overall, she enjoyed the eight weeks of basic training, but the amount of inspections the girls had to endure on a daily
brand new Lincoln. Where they were headed, the two young girls weren’t
basis seemed a bit redundant to young Lenora. “We lived in open barracks, so when the officers came in, they inspected not
sure. As we chatted, I could see behind her wise eyes a glimmer of the
only our beds, but also our footlockers. This ended up causing be a bit of a problem since my grandmother kept sending me
spontaneity that led her youthful decisions as Lenora retold her story.
cookies and candies in the mail. While I loved the gesture, the women in charge of us didn’t exactly approve, so before each
“After reaching Florida, we decided to go see my friend’s brother. Did I
inspection, I would have to hide my snacks in our First Sergeant’s room since hers was closed off. I really did appreciate
mention he was stationed along the West Coast?” While I was shocked at
that.” While I’m sure other girls in her group wondered why she didn’t simply ask her grandmother to stop sending them,
the two girls’ gumption, I wasn’t prepared to hear how her father react-
the part of myself that’s rooted in deep Southern heritage understood without asking. You see, grandparents (especially
ed. “You know, he wasn’t mad at all when he found out I’d left school,”
grandmommas) in the South are hardheaded and allowed to do whatever they please. So, asking them not to do some-
shared Lenora, “In fact, he was rather pleasant until I told him I was join-
thing works just about as well as baptizing a cat. If that meant sending gifts, then that’s what was going to happen.
ing the Army. He told me no, but I was determined to go, regardless of his
She continued, “That wasn’t the only hard thing about basic training, though! During the inspections, we would only
decision!” However, it didn’t become real for her until the night that she
have a few minutes to get ready for whatever they called. Sometimes we would have to be in full dress with our wool skirts,
boarded the train for basic training in Fort Lee, Virginia. As the train pulled
blouses, jackets and hats. That I didn’t particularly care for, but y ou get used to it since everyone was treated the same.”
out of the station in Columbia, South Carolina, and she finally saw her
In fact, the WAC Sergeants took their job of preparing the women for their future of military service so seriously that one
name in print along with her orders, it finally hit her. “I remember think-
woman was given the job of scrubbing their two story barracks with a toothbrush simply because of her sassy attitude.
ing, ‘My goodness! I’m in the Army!’”
CONTINUED
96
JULY 2016
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