By LIZ ALLEN
Morning News staff reporter
When Claire Postek's co-workers call her "Sarge," it's not just a term of affection.
That was her rank when she served with the Women's Army Corps during World War II.
Postek
was a 21-year-old spot welder in a steel factory in Milwaukee, working six days a week on the assembly line, when she learned that women were being recruited by the Army. She was already doing war work, welding clamps
onto boxes used by the Navy, but she yearned to contribute more.
"I was making good money in a factory but down deep, I knew there was something more I could do," she said. "The boys were leaving. If
they can do it, why can't I?" she asked.
She met the age, height and weight requirements, passed the physical and much to the surprise and dismay of her mother, was sworn into the Army in June 1943. Her mother,
a widow, "felt real bad" to have the youngest of her three children leave home but Postek made sure that she had a savings bond taken out of every paycheck to send home to her mother.
Postek's first
destination was Des Moines, Iowa, and from there she was sent to Aberdeen, Md., where her job was to help weigh gun powder. "We weren't near the front lines. We were there to replace the boys who had to go to the
front lines."
The most exciting part of her tour of duty came in July 1945, when she shipped over to Paris on the Queen Elizabeth, to become a long distance telephone operator with the U.S. Army of
occupation.
In Paris, she lived in a hotel across from the Stars and Stripes newspaper office, right in the middle of the city, but there wasn't much time to sightsee. The Army transported the operators back and forth
to work every day. "Our meals were served in the hotel and we had our own barber shop and beauty shop."
There were strict rules that the WACs had to follow. "You never knew when the chief operator would
come on the line. There was no monkey business there. The government was tough."
But what would Paris be without a little romance? Postek discovered some when another member of the Signal Corps, a D-Day veteran
named Stanley Postek, tested the telephone line one day.
"I really liked his voice. I started flirting," she said with a laugh. The two made a blind date but she grew apprehensive as the evening approached
and almost chickened out until the French doorman at the hotel assured her there was "a nice, dark-haired boy" waiting for her in the lobby.
That first date made an impression. "He took me to a cafe.
They had a violin playing and we were drinking champagne," she said.
Stanley, she said, was "good looking, Catholic, so considerate -- that must have been why I fell in love."
Still, she was skeptical
that they'd see each other after they were discharged.aybe that's why the return trip home wasn't as exciting as sailing to France. Or it could have been that this time, she and three other WACs were the only women on a
victory ship filled with about 1,000 GIs. The rough weather also made Postek seasick.
But Stanley proved to be a man of his word. Postek came home to Milwaukee in June 1946 and one month later, Stanley drove out from
Erie to ask her to marry him. On Nov. 28, 1946, they had a "nice Polish wedding," at St. Adalbert Church in Milwaukee.
Postek never had any regrets about leaving her hometown and moving to Erie with the man
she loved but they didn't have as many years together as she hoped. Stanley was still a young man when he died suddenly on the job while working as a draftsman. Thirty six years later, Postek's eyes brim with tears as
she remembers the day she became a widow with two children to raise.
She's proud of the job she did raising her children, Stanley Postek Jr., a worker at General Electric Co., and Linda Postek, a teacher at Mount
Calvary School.
Her son and daughter are equally proud of the part their mom played in World War II. Stanley Jr. used to dress up in her Eisenhower uniform jacket as a child and both children kidded her about rising
to the rank of sergeant over her husband, a corporal.
Now, a new generation is learning about "Sarge" Postek. After working as a waitress for 30 years at the former Amity Inn and Fergies, Postek, who will be
72 in August, has another career. Four days a week, starting at 4 a.m., she works at the Broad Street McDonald's, cleaning machinery, pouring coffee -- and endearing herself to her young co-workers when she tells them
tales of World War II.
World War II is so far removed from their lives that they find it hard to believe she was part of it. But she has her discharge papers, her memories -- and an old bottle of Channel No. 5 from
Paris buried in a dresser drawer at home to make it all come alive again.
"I felt so good doing that," she said. "It was so wonderful that I helped my country."
