Pvt. Marguerite M. Chase, Women’s Army Corps

During World War II, African American women embraced opportunities in the U.S. armed forces that were not afforded to them as civilians, despite the fact that many aspects of the military were still segregated. In Yonkers, the Hudson River Museum arranged for Francis Vandeveer Kughler to create a portrait of every local enlistee to the Women’s Army Corps, including Marguerite Chase. Chase was helping the war effort by working at GM Eastern Aircraft in Tarrytown but decided that she “wasn’t content to be safe at home working in an aircraft plant.”