Pvt. Eleanor Miller Scapoli

In 1943 artist Francis V. Kughler, Hudson River Museum Director H. Armour Smith and Women’s Army Corps recruiter Joanne Coates conceived a plan to encourage women of Yonkers to enlist in the army and honor their contribution. Every Yonkers woman who joined the WACs would have her portrait made in oil or pastel by Kughler.

One of the older WACs painted by Kughler, Eleanor Scapoli was born in 1912 and already widowed when she served with the Army Air Forces. In 1945, she was stationed at Mitchell Field on Long Island and expecting a transfer overseas; and her brother, Sergeant Frederick Miller, was with the Army medical corps in France.

Scapoli worked for the Suburban Bus Company prior to joining the WAC. She is credited with being one of the first women bus drivers in Yonkers, and perhaps Westchester.