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You will never be as cool as Auntie Harriet in a gas mask.
My favorite California Genealogical Society publication just came out: The Jukebox Genealogy. The song is delicious and playing on repeat. It took me a minute to laugh at the title of it, but the YouTube algorithm quickly brought some other gems!
The above was a piece of mixed-media art I created in tribute to my Great Aunt Harriet, my grandfather’s sister, whom I was very close to. I inherited a box of pictures from her children, and this photo of her was among them (Note: I made a photocopy and enlarged it– I nicely preserved the original… somewhere around here…).
My two great-aunts, Harriet and Fern, served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Stories say that Aunt Fern was a code-cracker in the Signal Corps and that it was “hush-hush.” In googling this for you all today, I found that there was actually a thing called “Hush WAACs,” which apparently was a specialized group within the Signal Security Agency. They were sworn to absolute secrecy. Could Aunt Fern have been part of that? With the fire of 1973, I’m not sure proof remains in the archives, but one day, I will see about ordering her records.
Here is a photo of my two Aunts and their friends:
Fern Conner, unknown, Harriet Conner, unknown. ca 1944-1945
And a photo of Aunt Fern with her husband, John Origer, who she married during the war in Arlington, VA:
Fern Conner and John Origer, married 26 July 1945
Who is your ancestor-at-arms? Tell the Jukebox Genealogy about them by May 1, 2026: JukeboxGenealogy@
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MAR
2026