Collection finding aid (offsite)
Norma Mildred Petree Shaver (1921-2002) served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1943 to 1945. Norma Petree Shaver was born on 13 July 1921 in Forsyth County, North Carolina. She graduated from Old Town High School in 1938, took a business course at Salem College, and then went to work at the Hanes Knitting Company as a cost accountant. Shaver joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in October 1943. She was sworn in at a ceremony in Raleigh, North Carolina, which was held for promotional purposes, and then boarded a train for Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where she completed basic training. Shaver was then stationed at Camp Upton in Long Island, New York for about six months, where she worked in the motor pool before being transferred to the finance office. Shaver returned to Fort Oglethorpe for overseas training and departed California bound for Brisbane, Australia, aboard the SS Lurline in August 1944. In Australia she worked in the office of the adjutant general's researching the status of servicemen upon request of their families. After a few months Shaver was sent briefly to Hollandia, New Guinea, and then moved on to Tacloban, Philippines in early 1945. In March of 1945 she was transferred to Manila, where she remained until November 1945 when she returned stateside and was discharged. Shaver returned to Hanes and worked there for another twelve years. She also earned her commercial pilot license. She married Ray Shaver in 1950 and in 1967 the family settled in the coastal area of North Carolina. Norma Shaver passed away on 26 January 2002.