The Red Ball Express and the Women Who Ran It
This guidon was carried by First Sgt. Gladys Parker as the 29th Traffic Regulating Group marched into the newly liberated Paris, France, 1944.
The 29th Traffic Regulating Group
In order to keep the express routes moving, Maj. Gen. Frank Ross realized the significance of having a Traffic Regulating Group in the European Theater. The purposes of such a unit was to serve as the coordinating headquarters staff for the various modes of transportation across motor transport, military railway service, or maritime operations. The WACs worked to provide critical information to synchronize the work of these divisions in the headquarters in an administrative capacity. In response to this demand, the 29th Traffic Regulating Group was assembled under the command of Capt. Joy Fincke. It was the only all-female Traffic Regulating Group in the U.S. Army.
The unit was comprised of 186 WACs handpicked from across Transportation Corps Ports of Embarkation in the United States. The women took an LCI to Utah Beach on 4 September 1944. Trucks carried them into Paris behind the front lines four days later on 8 September. They were the first full WAC unit to arrive in the newly liberated city.
