Stars in Our Service Flag

Supplement  to The LAMP of Delta Zeta, Issue 3 - 2011.

Honoring Those Who Served in World War II

During World War II, each issue of The LAMP of Delta Zeta carried stories about members helping their country in a uniformed service. "Stars in Our Service Flag" featured the names and branches of service for all Delta Zetas. The largest listing was 222 in the September 1945 publication. The first gold star, indicating loss of life, was for Katheryn Lawrence, Upsilon (North Dakota University), who was killed in a plane crash while serving with the Auxiliary Ferrying Command.

Today, The LAMP continues this tradition in honoring women who are serving their country. Those deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other lands far from home bravely face danger as part of their job. In addition, many members are serving here in the United States, and support the work of the troops stationed overseas.

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During the second World War, more than 200 Delta Zetas served in uniform in the women's branches of the Army (WACS-Women's Army Corps), Navy (WAVES-Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), Marine Corps, or in the United Services Organizations (USO) as representatives of such agencies as Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) or the Salvation Army.

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Ruth Simering, Epsilon '17 (Indiana University), served during World War II in Australia and New Guinea with a Red Cross hospital unit as a psychiatric social worker. Here she is in Australia in 1944 with a pair of Koala bears named "Mischief" and "Junior." Ruth donated the first six replica statues of the Caryatides, the sculptured female figures found on the Porch of the Maidens in Athens, Greece, at the 1960 Convention for the Caryatides Awards. She was also responsible for creating the Delta Zeta Flag, which was presented at the Sorority's Golden Anniversary Convention in 1952.


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Lois Perry Brown, Alpha Theta (University of Kentucky), was the first Delta Zeta member reported as a member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corp (W.A.A.C.). She served as 2nd Lieutenant.


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Ruth Harvey, Alpha Chi '34 (University of California/Los Angeles), trained at Ft. Des Moines as a W.A.A.C. Here she is packing parachutes.


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Ensign Carol T. Harden, Mu (University of California/Berkeley), was stationed in the Bureau of Ships in Washington, D.C. as part of the W.A.V.E.S. (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) for the Navy.


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Ensign Mable E. Martin Dankers '30, Alpha Beta (University of Illinois), was commissioned as an officer in SPAR, the Coast Guard Reserve, stationed at the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma office of Naval Officer Procurement.


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SPAR Ensign Janie Carter, Beta Xi (Auburn University), was the only woman officer on the staff of Commodore W.N. Derby, Boston District Coast Guard Officer.


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Major Marion Boyd Dryden, Delta '20 (DePauw University), U.S. Marine Corp., Assistant to the Director of Marine Corps Aviation, in charge of Women's Reserves. She was in charge of the training, assigning and following the welfare and job performance of all women Marines assigned to duty in Marine Corp. Aviation. Major Dryden was recruited from Macy's in New York, where she was the assistant employment manager.


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Ethel J. Theis, Alpha Delta '41 (George Washington University), 2nd Lieutenant, Army dietitian. In France, she served 1,000 men a day in a tent. Dieticians were on duty 18 hours a day.


10 Margaret Fuller Dart Mu Red Cross resized.jpg
Margaret Fuller Dart, Mu (University of California/Berkeley), Director of the Oakland Blood Donor Center, receives the Army-Navy "E" Award.


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Alumnae of the Mu Chapter (University of California/Berkeley) served as Grey Ladies of the American Red Cross who worked at Oakland Naval Hospital in Oak Knoll, California.


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Although not serving in uniformed service, actress and television producer Gail Patrick, Alpha Pi '29 (Samford University), who would become Delta Zeta's Woman of the Year in 1962, did innumerable bond tours to support the troops during World War II.

Go back to The LAMP of Delta Zeta.

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