Mary A. Hallaren was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of John Joseph and Mary (Kenney) Hallaren.
Mary attended Boston University and graduated from Lowell State Teachers College. She taught junior high school for 15 years in Lexington, Massachusetts.
On the onset of World War II, Mary Hallaren enlisted in the Women's A. Army Corps (WAAC) in July 1942. Rising quickly in rank, CPT Hallaren commanded the first separate battalion of WAAC sent to Europe in 1943.
She served as director of the now Women's Army Corps (WAC) personnel attached to the 8th and 9th Air Forces, and by 1945, as she commanded all WAC personnel in the European theater.
Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Mary Hallaren was the deputy director; and on the retirement of the current director, Col. Westry Boyce, she became the new director of the US Army Women's Army Corps and promoted to full Colonel.
Her strong and forceful leadership was crucial to passage of the Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 which permanently allowed women to serve as full members of the U.S. Armed Force.
She served as director until 1953, then retired from the army in 1960, having been awarded the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Army Commendation Medal.
In 1965, Hallaren assumed direction of Women in Community Service, sponsored by a coalition of diverse women’s organizations. Through its program, at-risk women were able to secure job training and economic opportunity. Because of Hallaren’s vision and inspiration, women who might have failed economically and socially, succeeded. [1]
In retirement she continued her active life. She became a federal employee at the Department of Labor until 1978. She was an advocate of the principle that qualifications and abilities were not related to gender or race. In the 1990s, she was a leading proponent of the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, which was dedicated in 1997. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.
COL Mary Hallaren passed away February 13, 2005 in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia. She was 97 years old. [2]
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Categories: Lowell, Massachusetts | United States Women's Army Corps | United States Army | United States Army, World War II | United States Women's Army Corps, United States Army, World War II | United States Army, Korean War | United States of America, Federal Civil Servants | National Women's Hall of Fame (United States) | Saint Patrick Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts | United States of America, Notables | Notables | Women's Army Corps Service Medal | Legion of Merit | Bronze Star Medal | Army Commendation Medal