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Blanche Woolard Haggard Collection

WVHP

Collection finding aid (offsite)

Blanche Woolard Haggard of Wilson, North Carolina, served in the United States Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) from 1942 to 1945. Blanche Woolard Haggard was born in Wilson, North Carolina, and graduated from Charles L. Coon High School. She then attended the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and graduated in 1942 with a degree in business. She worked briefly as an accountant for Vick Chemical Company in Greensboro before enlisting in the navy. Haggard joined the WAVES in 1943 and was sent to Northampton, Massachusetts, for basic training and Officer Candidate School in January. She was then stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, where she served as a communications officer at the naval air station. While there, she met and married Bill Haggard, who was a member of the Meteorology Department. Haggard was later transferred to Norfolk and was discharged from in 1945. Following the war, the Blanche and Bill Haggard resided in many places, including Tallahassee, Florida; Asheville, North Carolina; and Oxen Hill, Maryland. Haggard worked as a volunteer school librarian, a bookstore clerk, and an employment counselor.

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