Wilma Vaught

Wilma L. Vaught biography

Brigadier General Wilma L. Vaught, USAF

Wilma L. Vaught was born on March 15, 1930, in Pontiac, Michigan, and grew up in Illinois. She graduated from Scottland Community High School and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois. At a time when relatively few professional opportunities existed for women in the armed forces, she chose a career that would eventually place her at the forefront of major changes in the United States Air Force. She later earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama and became the first female Air Force officer to attend the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Vaught was commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1957. Following basic officer training at Lackland Air Force Base and specialist training in statistical services at Sheppard Air Force Base, she was assigned to the 805th Air Base Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. There she served as chief of the Data Services Branch while also commanding the local Women in the Air Force Squadron Section. She subsequently served at Zaragoza Air Base in Spain and with the 306th Combat Support Group and 306th Bombardment Wing at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida.

While assigned to Strategic Air Command, Vaught broke one of the significant barriers facing women in the Air Force. During 1966-67 she deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, with the 4133rd Provisional Bombardment Wing during Operation ARC LIGHT, becoming the first woman to deploy operationally with a Strategic Air Command bombardment unit. ARC LIGHT involved B-52 operations against targets in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Vaught served as executive officer and chief of the wing’s Management Analysis Division.

After completing graduate studies at the University of Alabama, Vaught was sent directly into the Vietnam War. From 1968 to November 1969 she served in Saigon as a management analyst in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Comptroller, Headquarters Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Her service encompassed four officially recognized Vietnam campaign periods, reflected by the four bronze service stars on her Vietnam Service Medal. Her decorations for her career included the Bronze Star Medal as well as the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Returning from Vietnam, Vaught moved into increasingly senior financial and management appointments. At Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base she headed the Advanced Logistics Systems Plans and Management Group. In 1972 she became the first female Air Force officer to attend the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She subsequently served in the Directorate of Management Analysis at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, including assignments as chief of the Cost Factors Branch and chief of the Security Assistance Division.

Vaught later became director of programs and budget at Headquarters Air Force Systems Command and in March 1980 was appointed the command’s deputy chief of staff, comptroller. On September 8, 1980, with a date of rank of September 6, she was promoted to brigadier general. She was the first woman from the Air Force comptroller career field selected for promotion to brigadier general, another milestone in a career marked by assignments previously closed, formally or informally, to women.

In June 1982 Vaught assumed command of the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, responsible for the joint-service organization that processes applicants entering America’s armed forces. During this assignment she also served as the senior military representative to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services and chaired the Committee of Women in the NATO Armed Forces. In July 1985 she became the first woman to command an organization receiving the Joint Meritorious Unit Award. She retired from the Air Force in August 1985 after twenty-eight years of service.

Her military decorations reflected both her Vietnam service and her senior leadership responsibilities. They included the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal and two awards of the Air Force Commendation Medal, along with unit, campaign and foreign awards.

Retirement from uniform did not end Vaught’s public service. After briefly working as a consultant with the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, she became one of the driving forces behind creation of a national memorial recognizing American women who had served in the armed forces. She served for twenty-nine years as president of the Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation and oversaw development of the Military Women’s Memorial at the ceremonial entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. She stepped down as president on January 1, 2016, becoming President Emeritus.

Her later honours included induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the U.S. Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame. On July 7, 2022, President Joe Biden presented the 92-year-old retired brigadier general with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honour, recognizing both her pioneering Air Force career and her decades of work preserving the history of women in American military service.

Wilma Vaught’s career stretched well beyond the significance of being “the first woman” in a succession of assignments. Her importance lies equally in what followed those firsts. She moved from being one of the women testing the limits of the Air Force’s personnel system to commanding a major joint organization, and then devoted much of her retirement to ensuring that the service of other military women would be permanently documented and remembered.