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Tipping Point

Header with a photo of Mari K. Eder on the left, the text

By April 1945, the tipping point had not only been reached, but it was rapidly fading into the past. In Europe, Patton’s Third Army was heading into Germany.

The end was near. Everyone could feel it coming.

Millie Rexroat and her fellow WASP pilots were suddenly watching from the sidelines. The program that had let them fly, although not in uniform, and not for long, had ended in December 1944, and male pilots, returning from 8th Air Force assignments in England and other locations, were replacing them.

One of those pilots was Ed “Shorty” Robarts. He was back stateside as of December 1944 and reassigned to the Ferry Division of the Air Transport Command. He was looking forward to meeting his longtime girlfriend and pen pal, Betty Bemis, in person. For the first time!

Betty was serving as a Navy WAVE in Dayton, Ohio, with the top-secret Ultra project. She had her request for time off to meet Ed in Florida for Easter. She was excited to meet him!

He was there to meet her flight when she landed, and three days later, they were engaged.

.stk-0c10848 {margin-bottom:0px !important;}.stk-0449242 {background-color:var(u002du002dstk-global-color-14950, #273891) !important;}.stk-0449242:before{background-color:var(u002du002dstk-global-color-14950, #273891) !important;}.stk-2e540c3 .stk-img-wrapper{width:512px !important;}Black-and-white wedding photo of a smiling bride and groom. The bride, in a lace gown, holds a large bouquet. The groom is in a military uniform adorned with decorations. They stand in front of a curtain backdrop, with the groom's hand gently resting on the bride's back.

In Germany, as U.S. troops reached the gates of concentration camps, the German guards opened the gates and fled.

Kate Nolan and the nurses of the Fifty-third Field Hospital were there at Gardelegen, where the Nazis had set a barn on fire to kill hundreds of prisoners. It was a part of her war experience she never discussed.

The women who served with the resistance could feel the change coming as well.

Virginia Hall was still leading resistance fighters in France. The same was true for Diet Eman in the Netherlands and Mary Sigillo (Barraco), who was still working as a liaison between two Canadian regiments and the Belgian resistance.

Captain Stephanie Czech was in her first assignment with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in London. She worked out of the U.S. Embassy on assignments of observing and reporting enemy troop movements and other criteria set for her and other counterintelligence agents by the OSS Director there.

She was preparing for her first undercover assignment, but it wouldn’t come to fruition until August. But she did meet her future husband while in London, Colonel Bill Rader, a bomber group commander.

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Stephanie had spent the first half of her Army career at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, working in a WAC basic training unit. She volunteered for the OSS because she felt she needed a challenge.

Major Charity Adams was also at Fort Des Moines and likewise craved a challenge. She found her calling with the challenge of battalion command.

With success in solving one major problem came the requirement to fix another. The 6888th was ordered to Rouen, France, where they would arrive just weeks after VE day in May. Then, they would participate in another parade—this one to celebrate victory. Then, they would clear the backlog of diplomatic mail.

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In the U.S., factories were slowing production. Some military training facilities, particularly those training women for the Women’s Army Corps, were beginning to close.
After all, they wouldn’t be needed after the war ended. In New York City, policewoman Mae Foley saw more ships coming into the harbor. Soldiers were beginning to return.

In China at an OSS office, Betty McIntosh was using her propaganda skills to demoralize and deceive Japanese troops. At a Japanese concentration camp nearby, twelve-year-old Mary Taylor wondered when she could go home again.

The struggle was in its final days. For many, it was hard to believe.

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Published on April 03, 2025 06:00
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