104-year-old World War II veteran reflects on her service: ‘I’m proud I am part of it’

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KYTV/Gray News) - More than 16 million Americans fought in World War II. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, only 66,000 of them are still alive.

One of those is Harriet Daniels, who is 104 years old.

During the war, Daniels said she served in communications for the U.S. military.

“And we, of course, were there, and the front was only about, I think it was about 10 miles away, and we could hear the guns and stuff,” she said. “But fortunately, they never did. Germans never to break through anyway.”

Daniels lives near her son in Springfield, Missouri. Her son, Tommy, is a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Daniels was recently given the key to the city in her Oklahoma hometown.

“And it was just very humble, you know, very humble life,” she said. “Of course, I was raised during the Depression, so nobody had any money. Everybody was poor, I guess.”

The military first drafted Daniels’ brother, who was shipped off to the South Pacific. She said this encouraged her to enlist.

“And so every day when I got off of work, there was this poster, a big poster, and it had Uncle Sam, and he says, ‘I want you,’” Daniels said. “So I went home and I told Mom that I was going to the WAC (Women’s Army Corps). And she said, ‘Well, I’ll whack you.’ She didn’t want me to do it, but I did. I ed the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps).”

After Daniels ed the WAAC, she was stationed in Florida.

“And there were rumors that we were going to be a special group and probably going overseas,” Daniels said. “Like I said, the WAC was all volunteer. You weren’t drafted. So they called us all in, asked us, and told us that our company was organized to go overseas, but you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. After I’d been through all this, I decided, well, I guess I’m going to go.”

Daniels was then shipped out to North Africa.

“And they put us on airplanes and sent us to Italy, and we landed in Naples, and they put us in trucks, and we went to Caserta, which was about 20 miles away, and we were stationed there,” she said.

While serving, she sent teletype messages for the Allied Forces in the European Theater during the war.

Daniels eventually met her husband and later married in Italy. Due to supply shortages, she said they had to get creative when it came to making her wedding dress.

“So the girls decided to come to my room,” Daniels said. “There were nine of us, 10 of us in the room, and one of them, she decided, well, she would make my wedding dress.”

Daniels said the woman came in with a parachute, which would be used to make a dress.

“And, of course, personnel parachutes are pretty good size, and I they stood me up on the chair, and put this big parachute silk around me,” she said. “So my dress was made out of a part of a parachute.”

Her husband died in 1968, and Daniels said she also lost track of many of the WAAC veterans she met during the war.

She said at the time she never imagined she would be part of the “Greatest Generation.”

“Well, at the time, we didn’t, but now I do,” Daniels said. “I think you know it, I guess it was one of the biggest generations. And I guess I do think you know that I’m proud I am part of it, really.”

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