Mildred Inez (Caroon) Bailey (1919 - 2009)

Born 18 Apr 1919 in North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Roy Carson Bailey — married 1943 in Volusia County, Florida, United States

Died 18 Jul 2009 at age 90 in Alexandria City, Virginia, United States

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Mildred (Caroon) Bailey is Notable.

Biography

Mildred Inez Caroon was born in Fort Barnwell, N.C., in 1919. Her parents, were Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Caroon, Sr. of Kinston, North Carolina.

She graduated from the Women's College of the University of North Carolina, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in 1940.

A high school French teacher when World War 2 began, she joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in the summer of 1942 at Fort Bragg, N.C., and was sent to Officer Training School at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.

She was assigned to the Army Air Corps and stationed in Daytona Beach, Florida where she met and married Marine Sgt Maj Roy C. Bailey. Because military rules forbade fraternization between officers and enlisted soldiers, the couple had to obtain special permission to marry. Bailey taught English to French pilots until the end of the war and then worked as a vocational-guidance counselor officer for veterans.

In 1949, she was transferred to Stuttgart, Germany, where she served as an intelligence officer, and in 1953 she returned to the United States to work in the intelligence branch of the Military District of Washington headquarters.

On 2 August 1971 then Colonel Bailey became the director of the Women's Army Corps and was promoted to brigadier general. She was the third woman in the U.S. military to attain the rank of general.

During BG Bailey's tenure as WAC director, a period marked by the Vietnam War and social change in which women demanded equality and greater opportunity, the number of women in the Army increased from 13,000 to 39,000, the most since World War II. The all volunteer Army allowed women to branch out from nursing and clerical roles. Women were allowed, for the first time, to command men; all female units were abolished, and women became eligible for campus ROTC programs. BG Mildred Bailey retired from the army in July 1975. ^[1]

Awards and Decorations: BG Mildred Bailey received the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, Women's Army Corps Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal ^[2]

BG Mildred Inez (Caroon) Bailey passed away July 18 2009 at the Knollwood military retirement residence in Washington, D.C. She was 90 years old. She was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ Women's Army Corps Memorial, WAC Hertiage Chapter 62 (midway down the page) http://ninekatztwodogs.tripod.com/id108.html
2. ↑ Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty DD Form 214.

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Mildred Inez Caroon Bailey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Inez_Caroon_Bailey

• Find A Grave: Memorial #40716397

• U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 Birth, Marriage & Death Name Mildred Inez Caroon Bailey Birth 18 Apr 1919 Death 18 Jul 2009 - Alexandria, Alexandria City, Virginia Civil North Carolina

• U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930 - 2015 Birth, Marriage & Death Name Mildred C Bailey Birth 18 04 1919 Death 18 07 2009 - Washington, USA - Age: 90 Residence Washington Gender Female Obituary Date 24 08 2009

See Also:

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Women%27s_Army_Auxiliary_Corps