Private, Women’s Army Corps Army Air Force, Norma Zoe Perkins (Yeman) Price

Born: May 16, 1918, Oneida, New York

Died: november 20, 1966, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Private Norma Zoe Perkins (Yeman) Price led a life that was short and often difficult, but she served her country in the Woman’s Army Corps Army Air Force (AAF) with dedication. Her family later recalled, “She fought World War II with a monkey wrench and a grease can.”¹ Perkins Price came into the AAF late in the war, enlisting in August of 1944, and serving ten months.^2,3 After her initial WAC basic training of six weeks, she would have had further training to be an aircraft mechanic. “In October 1944 the curriculum was divided into a general course of seventy-six days and a specialized supplementary course of thirty-six days. The total training time remained unchanged, and the subjects taught were the same as in the single 112-day curriculum, but the new plan made it possible to provide specialized training on any airplane without the necessity of maintaining an extended course of instruction for each.”⁴

After training, Perkins Price was assigned to the 326^th Base Unit.⁵ These bases were the lynchpin of AAF organization, “an air force,” General Arnold explained to a congressional committee in January 1939, “is a balanced compound of three essential ingredients-airplanes, combat and maintenance crews, and air bases.”⁶  This unit served out of MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida.⁷ There is no doubt that Private Perkins was welcomed, as:

“Wacs arriving on air bases ordinarily reported an enthusiastic reception. […] By mid-1944, Wacs became even more popular when, the supply of infantry replacements having proved insufficient, 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.”⁸

Though the short duration of the war after her enlistment didn’t allow her further training or advancement, Private Norma Zoe Perkins was proud of her time serving.

Norma Zoe Perkins was born to Leslie and Madalen Perkins on May 7, 1919, in Oneida, New York. While she later claimed to have finished four years of high school, she was married to Ellsworth J. Yeman in 1936.^9,10 This is not to say this was an irreconcilable problem as her family remembered her as an extremely intelligent woman.¹¹ By 1940 the Perkins/Yeman family had expanded to include a daughter and a son.¹²  They worked hard to eke out a living; on his enlistment paperwork Yeman listed his skills as “skilled mechanics and repairmen,” while Perkins Price listed hers as “semiskilled inter-industry metalworking occupations.”^13,14

 When she married Yeman he was already serving in the New York National Guard, and he would be drafted in December 1943.^15,16 Unfortunately, as a paratrooper, he was shot and injured, apparently just as he landed in Europe, and was sent home and discharged in February 1944.¹⁷  It is difficult to tell what went wrong at this point, or if it had gone wrong before he left in 1943, but by August of 1944, Perkins Price is living in Georgia where she enlisted as a WAC.¹⁸ 

After her ten months of service to her country, Perkins Price’s life is a mystery until she marries Edward S. Price in 1959.¹⁹ As a career Army man, he might have moved around a good deal, but he retired to New Mexico due to disability in 1966.²⁰ Tragically, on November 20, 1966, only a few short months after the move, Norma Zoe Perkins Price died of a disease she had fought for six years.²¹

Images & Documents

Notes:

1 & 2. “Woman Who Aided War Effort as Mechanic Dies.” Albuquerque Tribune. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 24 November 1966. sec. B p. 16.

3. “Perkins, Norma Zoe.” National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA.

4 Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI: Men and Planes. Edited by W.F. Craven and J. L. Cate. Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Terry Welshans for the HyperWar Foundation. Ch. 19 p. 630.

5. “Norma Zoe Perkins Price gravestone.” Find a Grave, database and images memorial page for Norma Zoe Perkins Price (7 May 1919–20 Nov 1966).
6. Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI: Men and Planes. Edited by W.F. Craven and J. L. Cate. Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Terry Welshans for the HyperWar Foundation. Ch. 4 p. 118 see footnote.
7. “Air Force Order of Battle: 326^th Base Unit.” Air Force Historical Research Agency. U.S. Air Force. Maxwell AFB, AL. Created: 22 Nov 2013.
8. 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. Last updated 17 February 2005. p. 281.

9 “Perkins, Norma Zoe.” National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA.

10. “Yeman/Perkins marriage.” New York State Department of Health; Albany, NY, USA; New York State Marriage Index.
11. “Woman Who Aided War Effort as Mechanic Dies.” Albuquerque Tribune. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 24 November 1966. sec. B p. 16.
12. “Yeman” Year: 1940; Census Place: Oneida, Madison, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02624; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 27-43.
13. “Yeman, Ellsworth John.” National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA.
14. “Perkins, Norma Zoe.” National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA.
15. “Yeman, Ellsworth J.” New York State Archives; Albany, New York; Collection: New York, New York National Guard Service Cards, 1917-1954.
16. “Yeman, Ellsworth John.” National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA.
17. “Yeman, Ellsworth John.” National Archives and Records Administration; Hospital Admission Card Files, ca. 1970 – ca. 1970.
18. “Perkins, Norma Zoe.” National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA.
19. Price/Perkins Married April 30, 1959 to 1918-1987 “Houser, Justin Family Tree.” Geneanet.
20. “Price, Edward S.” National Cemetery Administration. U.S., Veterans’ Gravesites, ca.1775-2019 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA.
21. “Woman Who Aided War Effort as Mechanic Dies.” Albuquerque Tribune. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 24 November 1966. sec. B p. 16.

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

Featured Image:

“Norma Zoe Perkins Price.” Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3878768/norma-zoe-price: accessed 14 July 2023), memorial page for Norma Zoe Perkins Price (7 May 1919–20 Nov 1966), Find a Grave Memorial ID 3878768, citing Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, USA; Maintained by Caren Carpenter Turner (contributor 46578313).