Laura Mae Jackson DuFore collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 01.0233

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection pertains to Laura Mae Jackson DuFore who served with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II. The collection contains four letters that she wrote to her sister and family while she was overseas, two letters from friends, a collection of black and white photographs mainly from New Guinea and the Philippines, foreign currency, various military documents, artwork created by DuFore, a metal bracelet with the name “Laura” etched in, a cigarette lighter made from a .50 caliber round, a Japanese fan, a Japanese cigarette, an Enlisted Infantry collar pin, photocopies of two scrapbooks, and various newsletters from air fields, ships, or other posts. The collection also contains a copy of DuFore’s autobiography A Life So Full.

Dates

Created: 1942-2008
Other: Majority of material found in 1942-1945
Other: Date acquired: 06/18/2001

Creator

DuFore, Laura Mae Jackson (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical or Historical Information

Laura Mae Jackson DuFore was born December 22, 1903, in Ellsworth, Charleston County, Michigan. She was a first-generation American; her family moved to the United States from France through Canada. She grew up on a farm and then in lumber camps. DuFore left home when she was seventeen, and she eventually began working in a beauty salon. Later, she owned and operated her own beauty salon in Detroit.

DuFore enlisted (under her married name: Laura Mae Jackson) in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps on January 3, 1943. After her enlistment, she began training at the Women's Army Corps Training Center at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. She was then sent to Stockton Field, California, where she served with the 716th WAAC Post Headquarters Company AAF in June 1943. While at Stockton as an Air-WAAC, she was promoted to Technician Fifth Grade in June and then Corporal in October 1943.

In August 1944, she returned to Fort Oglethorpe for two weeks of Field Service Training. She then shipped overseas to Hollandia, New Guinea, where she served in the message center receiving and distributing all field mail. Her unit moved on to Leyte and then into Manila in the Philippines where she worked with maps. By the time she left the Philippines, she was in the Far East Air Forces (FEAF).

She shipped to the Separation Center, Camp Beale, California in September 1945 after applying for discharge. She moved to an address in Los Angeles afterward. By Spring 1947, she was volunteer chairman of the American Veteran’s Committee of Santa Monica, California which supplied entertainment and parties to servicemen, some at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital. DuFore also spent some time working as a realtor, and later in life, she supported herself as an artist.

For her service, DuFore was awarded a Good Conduct Medal, WAAC Service Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, and Philippine Liberation Medal with one Bronze Star.

DuFore passed away on August 23, 2007.