‘Life without you in the army – well, honey, I hate to even think of it.’: Esther Herbert, Marvyl Doyle and Lesbian Connection in Second World War America

Abstract

Lesbian life in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps (WAC) flourished on the bases, with intense social change and new opportunities for community bringing lesbians across the country together in previously unfathomable ways. Utilising both new primary source materials and existing scholarship on lesbian connection and experiences – specifically, Esther Herbert and Marvyl Doyle, who met in the WAC in 1943 and began a lifelong romantic relationship – this paper will discuss their relationship in the wider context of lesbian connection and culture formed as a direct result of lesbians joining the WAC.