Juanita Baker Foster says to this day she was truly honored to be able to care for the fighting soldiers during the Korean War during the time she served in the Women’s Army Corps (WACS) from 1950 to 1952.

Born in Louisiana and raised mostly in Mississippi, Foster followed her desire to help others. As the oldest of four children, Foster began cooking for the family as soon as she could reach the stove. When her mother’s health declined, Foster became head of the household.

Before she even entered into high school, Foster’s mother became sick and had to give herself shots of adrena-line. She once confused her medicine with alcohol, and Foster was terrified as the alcohol made a hole in her mother’s leg.

From then on, Foster gave the shots to her mother and cared for her in other ways while she was sick. Her father passed away in 1940. It was not long after, in 1946, when her mother died. Foster, along with her two sisters and brother, were then sent to live with their aunt before even entering high school.

Foster’s desire for helping other people did not stop with her mother. She made a promise to her that she would help soldiers during the war, and after completing her four years of high school, and with her aunt’s permission, joined the Women’s Army Corps (WACS). She became a member of the WACS on May 26, 1950 in Jackson, Miss.

Foster was tested in many specific areas to see how qualified she was after completing her basic training in Ft. Lee, Virginia. Basic training lasted for 13 weeks, compared to today’s four to six-week-long training. Foster then began her medical training, and she was transferred to Houston, Texas at Fort Sam. She received her medical training at the third largest hospital in the country at the time.

“It was a man’s world,” Foster said. “Women were taken care of, but were never admitted into hospitals. I was just happy to be helping others.”

Foster was among 122 women in her WACS class.

“Women that got in service had to graduate and take a test. They were going to put me in the Marines because I made a high score,” she said.

After serving, Foster married and moved to Fort McPhearson in Georgia where she worked in a military family hospital.

Following her job at Fort McPhearson, she worked at a nursing home and hospital in the Summerville area.

Foster raised three children, Mary Hammond Patrick; James Olen Hammond, who served in the army in between wars, but was honorably discharged due to struggles with asthma; and Clyde Adams Foster, who was the son of Fos-ter’s second husband.

While maintaining roles as a wife and mother, Foster continued to serve others through other jobs with the American Unity Company in North Carolina and the American Rug Company in 1990. Before retiring in 1993, she also worked in a hospital in Virginia.

Growing up her entire childhood on a farm, Foster became very experienced at taking care of the family in many ways at a young age. If her family ever had to buy something at a store, it was one of five things; baking powder, baking soda, coffee, flour and salt. Foster’s family even grew their own sugar cane.

Foster said she constantly heard of the government and country’s affairs on the radio, and after hearing of one of her former classmates dying overseas and a neighbor dying in the air force while serving, she knew of the task she was destined to do.

“Everyone around me was doing it,” she said. “I knew, after making a promise to my mother, I had to serve.”

Foster has been a member of the Post No. 0047 American Legion here in Calhoun for about 13 years. She calls her membership to the American Legion her “favorite pastime.”