Mildred Inez Caroon Bailey

Mildred Inez Bailey ( Caroon; April 18, 1919 – July 18, 2009) was a United States Army officer, who served as the eighth director of the Women's Army Corps from August 1971 until July 1975. She was the third woman in United States Army to reach the rank of brigadier general. Secretary of the Army Robert F. Froehlke, assisted by Colonel Keith S. Lane, pins stars on the WAC Director, Mildred I. C. Bailey, August 2, 1971.

Early life Mildred Inez Caroon was born in Fort Barnwell, North Carolina, and raised in nearby Kinston. After graduating from high school, she enrolled in Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs, North Carolina. She transferred to the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in her sophomore year and graduated in 1940. After graduation, she attended summer school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bailey went on to teach French in Taylorsville, North Carolina.

Military career Bailey joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later the Women's Army Corps) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in the summer of 1942, and was sent to Officer Training School at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where she was a member of the third class of WAACs.

Bailey was assigned to the United States Army Air Corps and stationed in Daytona Beach, Florida, until mid-1943, when the company she commanded was transferred to George Field Army Air Base in Illinois. Bailey was then sent to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, for a short time before moving to Craig Air Force Base, Alabama, where she taught English to members of the French Air Force until the end of the war in 1945.

Bailey remained in the army after World War II and was sent to Miami, Florida, where she served as vocational guidance and counselor officer for veterans. In 1949, she was transferred to Stuttgart, Germany, with an intelligence assignment. She was then sent to Munich to command a WAC attachment at the 98th General Hospital.

In 1953, Bailey returned stateside to Washington, D.C., where she worked in the intelligence branch of the Military District of Washington headquarters. In 1957, she graduated from Strategic Intelligence School,

Bailey retired from the army in July 1975.

Personal life In 1943, she married Marine Sergeant Major Roy Carson Bailey. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Decorations

1st RowArmy Distinguished Service MedalLegion of MeritMeritorious Service Medal 2nd RowArmy Commendation MedalAmerican Defense Service MedalAmerican Campaign Medal3rd RowWorld War II Victory MedalArmy of Occupation MedalNational Defense Service Medal w/ Oak Leaf Cluster