Sergeant, US Army, Women’s Army Corps, Frances Ella McCarthy McInturff

Born: July 23, 1921, Stoughton, Massachusetts  

Died: October 27, 2009, Los Alamos, New Mexico  

Sergeant Frances McCarthy (McInturff) was eligible to join the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) when they came into existence in May of 1942.¹ One of the first Corps to want the help of the Waacs was the Army Air Forces (AAF), and when the WAAC became part of the regular army in 1943 as the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the AAF were still onboard.² Since Sgt. McCarthy served in the AAF, it is possible she was among the first Waacs or Wacs. The AAF made the Wacs welcome on bases across the US due to staffing issues.³ The Wacs were even more popular in 1944 when “the War Department required the transfer of thousands of combat-fit men from the Air Forces to the Ground Forces. Airfields thus lost many of the specialized medical and technical personnel upon whom they had depended for normal operations, and Wacs became increasingly sought after as replacements.”⁴

No matter when she joined, McCarthy McInturff would have felt needed. Whether she joined early, or in the thick of the War, any skills she had were needed or any aptitude would be trained since:

 “Most AAF Wacs finishing basic training were shipped immediately to air bases having need of personnel in their civilian skills and were assigned to immediate duty or to on-the-job training, which was believed less wasteful of time than the average technical course. If a station needed a specialist it was unable to train, or if a Wac showed such aptitude that higher specialized training was clearly indicated, the station was authorized to send her to any noncombat AAF school that could arrange to house her.”⁵

Later, a distant cousin of her husband who had researched the family thoroughly remembered her as a nurse. But her rank wasn’t high enough to be a fully trained Registered Nurse (RN), since they automatically received the rank of 2^nd lieutenant. However, Sergeant McCarthy certainly could have worked as a medic in the AAF as 6% of the Wacs were trained as medics and she had a civilian background as a hospital attendant.^6,7,8 No matter how she served, as a medic or in a clerical capacity, as a weather forecaster or observer, as an electrical specialist, a control tower specialist, airplane mechanic, photo-laboratory technician or photo interpreter, McCarthy McInturff served her country well enough to be promoted again and again, finally leaving at the close of the war with the rank of full sergeant.⁹

Frances Ella McCarthy was born on July 23, 1921, to Henry and Ella McCarthy of Stoughton, Massachusetts. She lost her mother very young, and by 1930 was living with an aunt in Bristol, Massachusetts.¹⁰ By 1940, she appears to be working as a hospital attendant at Norfolk County Hospital.¹¹ At some point in the 1940s McCarthy McInturff served her country. Whether she was stationed at the new Tinker Air Force Base outside of Oklahoma City, or had been overseas with the AAF, somewhere she met Benjamin Bryan “Ben” McInturff, also of the AAF, and they were married in 1945 in Oklahoma.^12,13

Now McCarthy McInturff was to continue to serve her country as a military wife since Ben McInturff served in the new US Air Force until his retirement in 1962. She followed him to many postings, one of the first to Cold War Germany as her first two children, sons Ben Jr. and Richard were born there and they returned with her in 1951 where they lived in Yukon, Oklahoma.^14,15 By 1956, the McInturff family was in Cameron County, Texas for the birth of their daughter Janell.¹⁶ The family moved to Williamsport, Kansas, and in a census there in 1961, only Richard and Janell are listed as children in the household.¹⁷

The following year Major Ben McInturff retired from active service in the US Air Force.¹⁸ The family may have moved to New Mexico then, McCarthy McInturff appears as a specially invited guest to a Heart Fund dinner party in Deming in 1968.¹⁹ The McInturffs moved around New Mexico throughout the next years, but were certainly living in Roswell when Major McInturff passed away in April of 2001.^20,21

Sergeant Frances Ella McCarthy McInturff passed away on February 3, 2005, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Images & Documents

Notes:

1. “Women in the Army: A History.” US Army. 2023. para. 2.

2, 3, & 4. Bellafaire, Judith A. “Chapter XVI: The Army Air Forces (AAF).” The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service. CMH Publication 72-15. p. 280 – 281.

5. Bellafaire, Judith A. “Chapter XVI: The Army Air Forces (AAF).” The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service. CMH Publication 72-15. p. 288.
6. McInturff, David. “Frances Ella McCarthy.” Message through Ancestry.com. 17-18 July 2023. I would like to thank Mr. McInturff for all his hard work and research, his insights helped me discover more information for this biography.
7. Bellafaire, Judith A. “Chapter XVI: The Army Air Forces (AAF).” The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service. CMH Publication 72-15. p. 292.
8. “McCarthy.” Year: 1940; Census Place: Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01624; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 11-22.
9. “Women in the Army: A History.” US Army. 2023. Para. 13.
10. “McCarthy: Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930.” The National Archives. Publication Number: T626 NARA National archives catalog id: 598030.
11. “McCarthy.” Year: 1940; Census Place: Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01624; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 11-22.
12. “Tinker AFB Overview: History.” Military Installations from Military One Source. Copyright 2023.
13. McInturff, David. “Frances Ella McCarthy.” Message through Ancestry.com. 17-18 July 2023.
14. “McInturff, Frances: return from Germany.” The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at and Departing from Ogdensburg, New York, 5/27/1948 – 11/28/1972.
15. McInturff, David. “Frances Ella McCarthy.” Message through Ancestry.com. 17-18 July 2023.
16. “McInturff, Janell Ann.” First Letter of Last Name: M Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997. Texas: Texas Department of State Health Services. Microfiche.
17. “McInturff, Williamsport, KS.” Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas.
18. “McInturff, Ben Sr.” National Cemetery Administration; U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites.
19. “Jerri Lynn Zachek Honored as Valentine Girl Monday.” Deming Headlight. Deming, New Mexico. 15 February 1968. p. 2
20. Please see documents: D 2, 4, 5, 7, and 11 for phone listings and voter registrations in and around Roswell, Deming, and Albuquerque.
21. “McInturff, Ben Sr.” National Cemetery Administration; U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites.

Compiled by: A. D. McLean, MA, MLIS. Central New Mexico Community College, retired 2022.

Featured Image:

“Frances Ella McCarthy McInturff.” Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17572374/frances-ella-mcinturff: accessed 16 July 2023), memorial page for Sgt Frances Ella McCarthy McInturff (23 Jul 1921–3 Feb 2005), Find a Grave Memorial ID 17572374, citing Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, USA; Maintained by David McInturff (contributor 47179039).