Air Force
WAF = Women in the Air Force (program)
WAFS = Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron
WASP = Women Airforce Service Pilots
= Women’s Army Service Pilots
= Women’s Auxiliary Service Pilots
WFTD = Women’s Flying Training Detachment
(from Poulos, Paula Nassen. A Woman's War Too: U.S. Women In the Military In World War II. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1996. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004540596).
Army
ANC = Army Nurse Corps
WAACS = Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
WACS = Women’s Army Corps
(from Poulos, Paula Nassen. A Woman's War Too: U.S. Women In the Military In World War II. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1996. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004540596).
Coast Guard
SPARS = United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve
SPARS is derived from the Latin motto of the USCG - Semper Paratus
Semper Paratus means "always ready".
(information taken from a 1942 Cedar Rapids Gazette clipping archived in the University of Iowa Digital Collection - http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/wwii/id/2037
Marine Corps
Marine Corps Women’s Reserve
(from Poulos, Paula Nassen. A Woman's War Too: U.S. Women In the Military In World War II. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1996. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004540596).
Navy
WAVES = Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service
AKA Women’s Reserve
AKA United States Naval Reserve
(from Poulos, Paula Nassen. A Woman's War Too: U.S. Women In the Military In World War II. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1996. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004540596).
