]> Finding Aid for the Jane Gail Brister Papers, 1943-1988, 1999 Processed by: Linda Jacobson; machine-readable finding aid created by: Cat S. McDowell University Archives & ManuscriptsThe University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC, USA
2008 Machine-readable finding aid derived from XML authoring program. Date of source: November 2008. Description is in English. Finding aid was prepared using DACS. Finding Aid for the Jane Gail Brister Papers, 1943-1988, 1999 University Libraries, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro &hdrnguscua; Descriptive Summary The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. University Archives & Manuscripts. Brister, Jean Gail Jane Gail Brister Papers, 1943-1988, 1999 WV0115 Material in English. 2 boxes For current information on the location of these materials, please consult University Archives & Manuscripts. Jane G. Brister (b. 1921), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) from May 1943 to December 1946 and from December 1948 to June 1965. The Brister Papers (bulk 1945-1965) contain printed material, photographs, artifacts, scrapbooks, and an oral history interview which document her twenty-year career in the army. Administrative Information Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

 Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the creators of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

 Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Jane Gail Brister Papers (WV0115), Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

 Acquisitions Information

Gifts of Jean G. Brister in November 1999, May 2000, and September 2002.

Processing Information

Processed by Linda Jacobson, December 2002

Encoded by Cat S. McDowell, November 2008

 Biographical or Historical Note

Jane Gail Brister was born in 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Cheltenham High School in 1938, and then attended Presbyterian College for Young Women [now Arcadia University] in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, on a scholarship. She did not graduate, but took a job at an H.W. Butterworth and Sons factory in January 1942.

In May 1943, Brister joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. She went to basic training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and then attended Officer Candidate School in Des Moines, Iowa. She returned to Fort Oglethorpe, where she had two weeks of Intermediate Officer School and was then assigned to a basic training company. In May 1945, she was sent overseas to Camp Lucky Strike in Le Havre, France, and then stationed briefly in Versailles before going to Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She was later moved to the European Theater Intelligence School (ETIS) in Oberammergau, Germany, until she was demobilized in December 1946.

Brister studied journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, but did not graduate. In December 1948, she returned to the WAC when they were brought into the regular army and was assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. From June 1950 to June 1951, she went to an Army Language School for Russian at Monterey, California. She then went to the Intelligence Center at Oberursel, Germany, until 1954. Her next assignment was recruiting out of Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio.

In 1956, Brister got into the Foreign Area Specialist Training (FAST) program and went for a year of training at Columbia University before serving two more years in Oberammergau. There, from 1959 to 1961, she worked in a Soviet intelligence training school and as a Strategic Intelligence Officer. She returned to the United States in 1961 to work in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for the Department of Intelligence in the Pentagon. In 1963, Brister was promoted to lieutenant colonel and transferred to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

In June 1965, she retired from the army and was recruited to work for Sylvania Electronics. She later did tutoring and teaching of remedial elementary school classes. Brister moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1995.

 Collection Overview

The Brister Papers contains a significant amount of of printed materials and photos, primarily from her time stationed in Germany in 1945-1946, 1951-1954, and 1959-1961. These document her tours in the European Theater Intelligence School, the Intelligence Center at Camp King, the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces (HQ SHAEF), and the Soviet intelligence training school. Her experiences at Fort Oglethorpe; the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York; Army Language School in Monterey, California; Fort Hayes, Ohio; and Camp King are also documented through two scrapbooks. The collection contains similar material from reunions and dedications Brister attended following her retirement from the army.

The Brister Papers also contain uniform accessories, including ribbons, medals, patches, and buttons. The Oral History primarily documents Brister’s experiences in Germany while serving in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II, and her work in army intelligence in the 1950s and 1960s.

Collection Arrangement

This collection is organized into the following series: Papers, Printed Materials, Photographs; Scrapbooks; Artifacts; and Oral History.

Detailed Description of the Collection 1. Papers, Printed Materials, Photographs 1 Detachment "R" Account of Tour of Balkan Countries, 1960 Account of Tour to Kiev, Moscow, Leningrad, USSR, 1961 A Soviet Image of the Free World: A Case Study of Foreign Affairs Coverage in the Soviet Armed Forces Newspaper, <title render="doublequote">Krasnaya Zvezda, 1959-1960 Columbia University Russian Institute--Photographs, 1958-1959 European Theater Intelligence School, European Command Intelligence School Papers, 1945-1946, 1989, 1991 Photographs, 1945-1946, 1989 Ft. McClellan Reunion--Photographs, 12 May 1984 Historical Journal of the WAC Detachment, 1951-1954 H.W. Butterworth & Sons Company--Defense Plant Work, 1942-1943 The Lost Platoon, Sunshine News, Newsletter of the Women's Army Corps Veterans Association, St. Petersburg, FL, February 1986 Personnel File Records, 1945-1965 Programs Dedication of Historic Fort Des Moines Chapel, 21 May 1983 Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, Women's Army Corps Veterans Luncheon Program, 14 September 1988 Memorial Dedication, Polo Field, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, 14 September 1988 Records Jacket--Certificates, programs, and other military records, 1943-1949 Retirement of WAC Flag Ceremony--Photograph, 21 March 1979 U.S. Amry Europe (USAREUR) Retiree Council, 1981, 1983, 1987 WAC Detachment, Camp King (Germany)--Photographs Barracks, Activities, Parties, Weddings, 1951-1954 Christmas for Local Orphans, 1945 Softball Team, 1953-1954 WAC Detachment, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces (HQ SHAEF/US FET), Frankfurt am Main (Germany) Miscellaneous clippings, correspondence, invitations and souvenirs, 1945-1946, 1979 Photographs, 1945 WAC Director Mary Louise Milligan's Visit to SACom Headquarters-- photographs, 1961 WAC Officers' Advanced Class, Ft. McClellan, Alabama Staff Study, 1957 Photographs, 1957-1958 WAC Songs, n.d. Photographs--Portraits, 1945, 1954 2 Certificate Awards, Degrees, and Records of Training Classes Lt. Brister to Depart for the ZI, ETIS (European Theater Intelligence School) News, 8 November 1946 Retirement Program and Photographs, 1965 Women's Army Corps Reunion and 37th Anniversary, The McClellan News WAC Special, 11 May 1979 2. Scrapbooks 1943-1945: Third Women's Army Corps, Fort Oglethorpe, GA 1948-1957: US Army Hospital, West Point, NY; Army Language School; Camp King, Oberursel, Germany; Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio 3. Artifacts Medals Army Commendation Army of Occupation European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign National Defense Victory Women's Army Corps Medal Medal Bar with 7 Medals: Army Commendation, WAAC/WAC, American Campaign, EAME Campaign (Service in European Theater), National Defense Service, Army of Occupation, Victory Ribbons Medal of Commendation WAAC/WAC American Campaign EAME Campaign National Defense Service Victory Patches Officer Candidate School Sergeant Insignia Cap Devices Lapel Insignia Miscellaneous Name Tags Name Strips Women's Army School Pin Unit Emblem, Ft. McClellan, Alabama European Souvenir Pins Saints Medals Dog tag Uniform Buttons WAC bookmark Oral History

Brister details her father’s experiences in World War I and in the engineering field; the Great Depression; working at H.W. Butterworth and Sons; hearing a radio announcement about Pearl Harbor; and her awareness of the war in Europe.

Discussion of Brister's service in the WAC during World War II includes details of her living conditions at Fort Oglethorpe and Germany; saving and returning belongings of the German family who had previously lived in her house in Frankfurt am Main; chaperoning dances in Germany; having a Christmas party for displaced children; meeting Marshall Zhukov and General Dwight D. Eisenhower in Germany; security precautions and danger in Germany; working to process Soviet defectors in Oberursel; Henry Kissinger’s work at the ETIS in denazification and anti-Sovietization; traveling back to the United States on a ship with French war brides; and then driving to California with a friend of Marlene Dietrich.

Brister also describes her recruitment back into the WAC in 1948, men’s reactions to her assignment at West Point; women receiving promotions to lieutenant colonel; trying to get into the Foreign Area Specialist Training (FAST) program; the downsizing of the military after World War II; and enjoying her time as a recruiter in the mid-fifties.

Much of the interview describes American intelligence during the Cold War. Related topics include details of her intelligence training, her jobs and social life while stationed in Germany, and working as a "trash officer" at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Other military topics include Brister’s admiration of WAC director Colonel Mary Hallaren; her opinion of women in combat positions; and patriotism.

Interview Transcript and Audio Recording, 5 November 1999 Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

United States. Army. Women's Army Corps--Military life. United States. Army. Women's Army Corps--Photographs. Women veterans--United States. World War, 1939-1945--Women--United States. World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Female.