"Irma Jackson Cayton Wertz"(1911-2007).

Was a member of the first Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACS) Officer training at Fort Des Monies,Iowa,during World War 2.Born in Brunswick,Georgia.Irma was the product of a military household.Her family was stationed in Des Monies while her father, who served as a captain in the segregated army during World War 1,attended officer's training camp.After graduating from Fisk University and Atlanta University,Irma moved to Chicago,Illinois where she gained employment as a Social worker in the South Parkway Community Center.There she married her first husband Horace Cayton,a noted University of Chicago sociologist.The couple divorced in 1942.The same year,Irma applied for entrance into the Women's Auxilliary Army Corps.After successfully passing a battery of examinations,completing a six-week training course,and taking the oath to become and officer in August of that year,she briefly assigned to the WAAC Headquarters in Washington, D.C.as a recruiter.Shortly thereafter,she relocated to Fort Huachuca,Arizona,Where she and married William Wertz and joined the thirty-second WAAC Post Headquarters Company.Under her leadership,the Thirty-earned the highest ratings for efficiency on the military base.Irma encoutered racial discrimination when she sought skilled positions commensurate with her abilities at the military base.In late 1943,she demanded an inspection of tasks assigned to women stationed at the military post.As a result she was promptly reassigned to Fort Lewis,Washington in 1944 and discharged from the army shortly afterward.Mrs Wertz relocated to Detroit where she became a life-long active member in community affairs,serving as a volunteer with the Detroit Repetory Theatre,The Visting Nurses Association,and the Detroit Receiving Hospital Services League.Mrs.Wertz died of respiratory failure in Detriot.