Millie Bailey

Vivian Mildred Bailey ( Corbett; February 3, 1918 – May 1, 2022) was an American World War II veteran, civil servant, and volunteer. She was a fundraiser for education, health, and military service personnel. Bailey was one of the first African American officers in the Women's Army Corps and served as a commander of the Women's Colored Detachment. Bailey was a division director in the Social Security Administration.

Early life and education Vivian Mildred Corbett was born in Washington, D.C., on February 3, 1918. Her mother moved the children back to her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, after Bailey's father was deployed for World War I. She attended segregated schools. She knew historian John Hope Franklin from her upbringing in Tulsa.

Career Bailey was one of only two black women to earn superior rank at her officer's course. She received her commission as a first lieutenant in Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School and served in the Women's Army Corps from 1943 to 1946. Bailey became second-in-command of the Women's Colored Detachment at Fort McClellan.

Speaking of her experiences, Bailey shared she did not experience gender discrimination but that the troops were racially segregated. The first time she went off post alone at Fort McClellan, a white woman spat at her and said, "Look at that black bitch." Bailey pretended to not notice, citing fears of lynching. In contrast, Bailey also shared that her commanding general, a white man, treated her with kindness while she was at a training camp in San Antonio. From 1982 to 1993, Bailey served on the Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission and was involved with the approval of the first magnetic resonance imaging and CT scanners in the state. She left the commission to join the Howard County General Hospital board of trustees where she served for 23 years before stepping down in 2015.

Bailey was a member of the Howard County Police Citizens Advisory Council.

On October 22, 2020, the Vivian C. "Millie" Bailey Neighborhood Square on Lake Kittamaqundi was dedicated in her honor. They married after leaving the U.S. Army. The couple had no children. In 1970, they moved to Columbia, Maryland, where Bailey resided for the rest of her life. She enjoyed traveling and had been to fifty countries as of 2013. In 2020, she went skydiving at the age of 102.