Violet Hill Gordon

Violet Hill Gordon
Born	Violet Hill Askins (1916-10-07)October 7, 1916 Washington, D.C., United States
Died	July 18, 2018(2018-07-18) (aged 101) Palm Coast, Florida, United States
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Service years	1942–1946
Rank	Second Officer (WAC) Captain (later)
Unit	6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion
Conflicts	World War II
Other work	Sociologist, U.S. government official

Violet Hill Gordon (née Askins October 7, 1916 – July 18, 2018) was an American military officer and government official. She served as a Women's Army Corps officer during World War II and was among the first African-American women to be commissioned in the U.S. Army. She later became a leading figure in federal civil service and social justice advocacy.

Biography

Violet Hill Gordon was born on October 7, 1916 in Washington, D.C. She attended Dunbar High School before studying at Howard University. She later earned a master’s degree in social work from The Catholic University of America.

In 1942, Hill joined the newly formed Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), In her history interview with Judith Kent in 2002, Hill said:

Well, I joined because my best friend Mildred Osby appeared at my house one day, all excited because she had either received information or had learned that there was going to be organized a Women's Army Corps. She wanted very much to be part of it; and, as we were very close friends she thought it would be wonderful if I also was interested and would do so. At that time, I was working in the state civil service, I was supervising a stenographic pool. I was not bored, but restless, and kind of stuck, I guess. But I wasn't that excited about entering into anything that sounded as regimented as the Army. So I didn't pick up on it initially. But she kept after me and after me and I finally said, “Well, okay.”

She joined the Women’s Army Corps after being accepted into its first officer candidate class for women. Upon completing her training, she received the rank of Second Officer and was assigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where one of the first detachments of African-American women in the WAC was stationed.

Gordon served with an African-American women’s unit that was deployed to England and later France during World War II, where she worked in military mail distribution centers handling large quantities of unsorted mail.

After the war, she pursued a career in the federal government, focusing on civil rights, public administration, and social justice.

Gordon died on July 18, 2018, in Palm Coast, Florida, at age 102.

Legacy

Violet Hill Gordon is remembered as a pioneering figure among African-American women in the U.S. military. Her leadership in the 6888th Battalion and her public service career have been celebrated in retrospectives by the Department of Veterans Affairs and military history institutions.