Pvt. Mary Neary

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 earliest Army women in Yonkers, Mary Neary joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in January 1943—several months before it transitioned into the WAC. She went to Iowa for elementary training, where she and other WAAC enlistees received equipment, classification tests, and drill exercises. Then, they were shipped off for “more detailed military training preparing them to replace a man in a non-combat Army job.” For her, that was an airplane mechanic at Turner Field in Georgia.

After her WAAC service, Neary did inspections at Yonkers’ Habirshaw Wire and Cable factory (a division of Phelps Dodge) and acted as an air raid warden. Kughler painted her in October 1944, when she signed up with the WAC for another tour of duty. She wanted to return to her old job and continue servicing planes.