Pvt. Rose Untener

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.

Several of the Yonkers WACs, like Rose Untener, were born in 1925 and not old enough to sign up until the last year of conflict. They had spent their teenage years under the cloud of war.

Before joining the WAC, Rose worked as an inspector at the North American Philips Company in Dobbs Ferry, where her mother and Pvt. Helen Harrison’s mother also worked. Helen and Rose were sworn into the WAC together, in a ceremony in the Post Office building in Yonkers. They both choose careers in the Army Medical Department. Harrison’s portrait is at the other end of the wall.