Featured Exhibit
This clipping, published in the New York Times approximately a week after the accident, highlights Pfc. Frieda Friend's service as a native of New York. Many newspapers would cover the servicemembers who enlisted nearby, so that family members and friends could keep informed.
Their Stories: Pfc. Frieda Blanck Friend
Pfc. Frieda Blanck was an operator in Holmes Electric Protective Company's headquarters signal board when the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was organized. She enlisted early after the example of her brother, Staff Sgt. Frederic Blanck, serving in the Army Medical Corps, and attended basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In June 1943, she was given permission and a leave pass to marry Staff Sgt. Roy Friend while the two were assigned to different army airfields in the United States. Staff Sgt. Friend was soon transferred to Accra where in October 1944, his wife, now Pfc. Frieda Friend, joined him. Staff Sgt. Roy Friend was still assigned to Accra when he heard the news that his wife never arrived to her new station in London, England.
