Primarily documents Lucy M. Smith's experiences in the Women's Army Corps from 1943 to 1945, particularly her time at Camp Patrick Henry. Smith details hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor while recovering from injuries she sustained in a car accident; the experience of having her new husband leave home to fight in the war; working in the Hercules powder plant; and her attempt to learn welding. " Topics related to her military service include her decision to join the Women's Army Corps (WAC) with a friend; the stringent regulations; the ways civilians reacted to her uniform; WAC friends; meeting celebrities such as Red Skelton, Frances Langford, and Jerry Colonna; uncertainty about the Pacific theater after V-E Day; reactions of military personnel to the nuclear bomb; and being on twenty-four-hour call. Topics related to Camp Patrick Henry in Virgina include recreation and entertainment; German and Italian prisoners of war; and not being allowed off base on V-E Day. Other wartime subjects include " her husband's experiences in the Pacific and his return from overseas in November 1945; her heroes of World War II, including Generals Omar Bradley and George S. Patton; and reactions to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death.