Elizabeth P. Hoisington

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Elizabeth Paschel Hoisington (b. 1918) is an American Army officer who was one of the first women to attain the rank of Brigadier General.

On June 11, 1970, three years after Congress authorized the promotion of women to the rank of General, Army officers Anna Mae Hays and Hoisington became the first two women to be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Army. Hoisington also became the first Women's Army Corps (WAC) officer promoted to that rank. (Hays was with the Army Nurse Corps.)

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[edit] History of Service

Hoisington's Army service goes back to early World War II. Women, with the exception of nurses, were not officially in the Army during WWII. Instead, they were members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).

Elizabeth enlisted in November of 1942 and completed her basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. At the time, women were required to serve in units before they could apply to Officer Candidate School (OCS), so Private Hoisington went to a WAAC aircraft early warning unit in Bangor, Maine.

The company commander recognized her talents and made her the first sergeant soon after her arrival.

"From private to first sergeant, that was my greatest promotion in the Army." ~General Hoisington

Elizabeth then sought out the most grizzled male first sergeant she could find and asked him to teach her what she needed to know. She claims that he did such a good job that when she reached OCS she never had to open a book.

After Bangor, Elizabeth made it to OCS. Her commission in May 1943 was to the rank of WAAC third officer. When the auxiliary became the Women's Army Corps (WAC) a month later, its officers changed to standard Army ranks.

Colonel Elizabeth P. Hoisington was appointed the seventh Director of the Women's Army Corps on August 1, 1965 and served from 1966 to 1971.

As the Director of the Women’s Army Corps, Colonel Elizabeth P. Hoisington visited the WACs serving during the Vietnam war in Saigon and Long Binh in September of 1967. According to some sources, Hoisington discouraged sending Army women to Vietnam. She believed that the public controversy over the issue of women in combat zones would deter progress in expanding the role of women in the Army.

On May 15, 1970, President Nixon announced first women selected for promotion to Brigadier General: Colonel Anna Mae Hays, Chief, Army Nurse Corps, and Colonel Elizabeth P. Hoisington, Director, WAC, effective June 11, 1970.

General Hoisington retired August 1, 1971.

[edit] The Other First: General Anna Maye Hays

According to the Army Nurse Corps Association, "on 11 June 1970, Colonel Anna Maye Hays was promoted to the grade of general and became the first woman in the United States Armed Forces to wear the insignia of a brigadier general." The author writes that General Hoisington was promoted immediately after.

[edit] Other Points of Interest

  • General Hoisington is from Sackets Harbor, New York.
  • Her brother Perry Hoisington, II, is also a General. Her 1970 promotion made them the first brother and sister Generals in the army.
  • Frequently quoted as saying, "if I had learned to type, I never would have made brigadier general."
  • Her grandfather Perry Milo Hoisington 1st helped to organize the Kansas National Guard.

Her father, Gregory Hoisington, was a graduate of West Point and a Captain in the U.S. Army.

She was a descendant of Ebenezer Hoisington, a founder of Vermont, who served during the American Revolution.

Source: The American Family Hoisington, by Harry Hoisington, MS. 1934.

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