Female Recruits Paved the Way

LaRue Dillon was working as a secretary in Birmingham, Ala., when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, killing thousands and launching America’s entry into World War II. A few months later in 1942, the U.S. military opened its doors to women for the first time, and Dillon and her roommate enlisted together. Her decision was part patriotism, part youthful wanderlust. “You know how you do things when you’re a teenager – I just wanted to go,” Dillon, 93, said a few weeks ago from her Scott County home.