Not afraid of hard work, Ruth Warlick left her life in Texas behind when she joined the WACs. Little did she know, she’d never see Texas again.

The seventh child of her parents, Ruth Eldeanne Warlick grew up in a busy household in the Texas Hill Country. She was born to James Wire “J.W.” Warlick and Ida Elizabeth Sewell Warlick on March 2, 1917 in Goldthwaite, Texas.[i]

J.W. had been born in Arkansas and Ida in Tennessee. The couple married when they were 18 and had their first born, William Oliver Warlick, a year later in 1897. In 1900, the family – J.W., Ida, and William, lived in Comanche, Texas. They lived in a rental home as J.W. farmed.[ii]

Her parents, J.W. and Ida, knew the loss of three children. They had a second son, James Orbin Walick, in 1900 but he lives less than a month.

In 1901, Ida gave birth to a third child, a daughter they name Clarice Edna Warlick Combs.[iii]

Tragedy strikes the family, and they lose two children in one year. Their first born, William, dies in 1907 at age 10. A new baby, Mary “Little Mary” Warlick, is born and also dies in 1907.[iv] The two little ones share a headstone in the Big Valley Cemetery in Goldthwaite marked “Brother and Sister.”

Two years later, they add another girl in 1910, Ila Mae Warlick Whitt, to the family.

By 1910, the family, now J.W., Ida, Clarice, and Ila, have moved 53 miles south. They bought a house in San Saba, Texas where J.W. works as a keeper for a merchant. A keeper is typically an attendant who minds a store and keeps track of the inventory as one of their duties. San Saba is about 20 miles south of Goldthwaite where the children are buried.[v]

A boy is added to the two girls when John Adrian Warlick is born in 1912.

By the time Ruth arrives, there are sisters and a brother waiting for her. Clarice is 9, Ila, 8, and John, 5. When Ruth was two, the family welcomed their last child, Paul Sewell Warlick, 1919.[vi]

When the Roaring 20s hit the picture, J.W. is back to farming. The family at home are J.W. and Ida, plus the children Ila, John, Ruth, and Paul. In addition, Ida’s younger brother, Oliver Sewell, 29, lives with them and works the farm. Oldest sister Clarice is living near-by in San Saba with her husband, Niven Coombs, a farmer.[vii] In 1931, the family continues to farm but at a new location in the area. The San Saba News and Star newspaper reported J. W. Warlick had bought a farm in Big Valley, Mills County. His irrigated farm, on the north side of the Colorado river, will be growing enough produce to ship by truck.[viii] Ruth’s dad isn’t just farming. During trapping season, he’s handling furs caught in the area at his business, The San Saba Hide and Fur Company.[ix] In 1932, he handled 25,000 furs during that season as a fur buyer.[x]

Ruth graduated from McMillin grammar school in June of 1930. She is the only one in her graduating class. The ceremony was held in the high school auditorium in San Saba.[xi]

In 1934, Ruth’s father is ill. The diagnosis and prognosis are grim. He has surgery in January to remove glands but by June, he passes away from cancer of his lips that had spread to his glands.[xii]

Ruth is 17 when she loses her father. She has just finished three years of high school. This leaves her mother, Ida, with just Ruth and her brother, Paul, who is 15. According to her enlistment papers, Ruth finished her last year of high school and graduated. The family is scattered. The older siblings, Clarice, Ila, and John are all married with families of their own.

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

As the war years approach, Ruth, 23, has struck out on her own. She has moved about 40 miles west of San Saba and is living in Brady, Texas. In 1940, she’s renting with two other young women, presumably girlfriends, Julia Barnett, 26, and Jewell Compton, 22. The three single ladies are all waitresses six-days-a-week at a café.[xiii]

After that, Ruth moves to the bigger town of Abilene, Texas, about 100 miles north of Brady. In 1942, she’s renting a place and working as a clerk at the Central Drug Store.[xiv]

Ruth’s little brother, Paul, joined the U.S. Navy in October of 1940. In 1941, he’s aboard the ship William Ward Burrows as an apprentice seaman, Sea2C.[xv]

HER MILITARY STORY

Ruth Eldeanne Warlick, service number A-809574, served in the Women’s Army Corp, WACs. Ruth enlisted on March 19, 1944 in Dallas, Texas.[xvi] She served in the 1202nd Army Air Force Base Unit, WACS. Her brother, Paul, is still aboard the William Ward Burrows, a Navy ship, so the family have two in the war effort.

According to HonorStates.org, the women who were in the 1202nd were older, with an average age of 28, than the usual recruit and were chosen for their “maturity and work experience.”

In November of 1944, Ruth was one of 159 WACs in Accra, British West Africa to serve with the Air Transport Command. Their job was to deliver troops and supplies as well as transfer aircraft.[xvii]

HER LAST DAY

PFC Ruth Warlick was with 17 other women of the Women’s Army Corp on a normally routine 776- mile[xviii] flight from Accra, British West Africa to Robert’s Field[xix], Liberia. The WACs were onboard as they were being transferred to a new assignment. There were scattered showers that morning but no other weather of note.[xx]

Her plane, piloted by a crew of three[xxi], a C-478 #44-76406, disappeared.[xxii]

The plane was last reported over Takoradi, British West Africa, about 150 miles west of Accra, shortly after departure.[xxiii]

Little is known about what transpired aboard the plane that day but several calls of “Mayday,” an emergency procedure used as a voice distress signal, were heard. The distress signal was loud and clear, lasting five minutes.[xxiv] A search was conducted by aircraft and surface craft over a wide area of the French Ivory Coast.[xxv] The search consisted of seven PET’s and British, French, and Native forces, who were informed to search waters and coastline. No sign of the plane was found.

The plane is believed to have crashed into the sea near Takoradi, Ghana.[xxvi] The Chicago Tribune reported the “[xxvii]18 WACs were the first ever reported lost overseas.”

She went missing on May 30, 1945 and was declared dead while missing in action off the coast of Ghana, Africa.[xxviii] News of the missing plane made newspapers across America on June 6th, 1945. A local Texas paper, The Taylor Daily Press, ran the news under the heading of “Army Transport Plane Missing Since May 30.”[xxix]

Her family was notified via telegram. No details were given at that time but a press release from Washington followed with news of the missing plane.

Ruth was 28.

**READ THE STORIES OF ALL 21 ON THIS FLIGHT **

Click here- https://www.fold3.com/page/653613892/flight-c-47b-44-76406-stories-of-21-missing-in-action/stories

COMMENDATIONS

Purple Heart

World War II Victory Medal

American Campaign Medal

Army Presidential Unit Citation

Army Good Conduct Medal

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign[xxx]

MEMORIALS

On June 16, 1945, a memorial service for the missing women was held by the WACs’ leadership in Portman Square in London and over 660 WACs attended.[xxxi]

PFC Ruth Eldeanne Warlick is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, an American Battle Monument, North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage Tunisia.

A grave marker remembers Ruth E. Warlick at the Big Valley Cemetery in Goldthwaite, Texas, the same cemetery where her siblings, who died so young, rest.[xxxii]

The PFC Ruth E. Warlick, American Legion Post 14 in Southlake, Texas is named in her honor.

AFTER THE WAR

Ruth’s brother, Paul Warlick, was a Boatswain’s Mate G[xxxiii] and went on to serve in Korea after he served in WWII.[xxxiv]

Ruth’s mother, Ida, who lost four children- two babies, a child at age ten and then Ruth in the war - lived a long life. At the time of her passing, she had 21 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.[xxxv]

STORY NOTE

In different documents, Ruth’s father’s name is spelled James Wyre Warlick and James Wire Warlick.

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

[i] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334636

[ii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4112018_00131?pId=43193839

[iii]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4454395_00924?pId=28508335

[iv] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334636

[v] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4454395_00924?pId=28508335

[vi] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334636

[vii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4547368_00291?pId=61200787

[viii] https://basic.newspapers.com/image/12060317/?terms=%22j%2Bw%2Bwarlick%22

[ix] https://basic.newspapers.com/image/12050519/?terms=%22j%2Bw%2Bwarlick%22

[x] https://basic.newspapers.com/image/436107717/?terms=%22j%2Bw%2Bwarlick%22

[xi] https://basic.newspapers.com/image/12052872/?terms=%22ruth%2Bwarlick%22

[xii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2272/images/40394_b062074-02189?treeid=32176464&personid=18214138512&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj684&_phstart=successSource&pId=66489046

[xiii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-04098-00406?pId=156869183

[xiv]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/4823799?treeid=32176464&personid=18214176847&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj704&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=384362875

[xv] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/1143/images/32662_237923-00206?treeid=32176464&personid=18214176850&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Zvj692&_phstart=successSource&pId=21148485

[xvi] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334636

[xvii] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334268

[xviii]https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=22956270&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM3MDE5ODM5MSwiaWF0IjoxNjAwNjUzOTMxLCJleHAiOjE2MDA3NDAzMzF9.GGROPxU0pGgcIxOv2cUjLCtQalRy9746RfogyVqiR44

[xix] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56250251/leona-marie_elizabeth-seyfert

[xx] https://www.abmceducation.org/understandingsacrifice/soldier/rose-puchalla

[xxi] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56250251/leona-marie_elizabeth-seyfert

[xxii] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334268

[xxiii]https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=22956270&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM3MDE5ODM5MSwiaWF0IjoxNjAwNjUzOTMxLCJleHAiOjE2MDA3NDAzMzF9.GGROPxU0pGgcIxOv2cUjLCtQalRy9746RfogyVqiR44

[xxiv] https://www.abmceducation.org/understandingsacrifice/soldier/rose-puchalla

[xxv] New York Times, June 7, 1945 “18 WACS Missing on African Flight”

[xxvi] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56250251/leona-marie_elizabeth-seyfert

[xxvii]https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=22956270&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM3MDE5ODM5MSwiaWF0IjoxNjAwNjUzOTMxLCJleHAiOjE2MDA3NDAzMzF9.GGROPxU0pGgcIxOv2cUjLCtQalRy9746RfogyVqiR44

[xxviii] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334268

[xxix] The Taylor Daily Press, June 6, 1945

[xxx] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=334636

[xxxi] https://www.facebook.com/notes/mia-recoveries-locating-lost-wwii-servicemen/the-tragic-loss-of-c-47-44-76406-the-wacs-worst-disaster/10150778536912463/

[xxxii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/32176464/person/18214176847/media/e9f5fd7d-d86a-4d5a-9149-d1ab7ce6b120?_phsrc=Zvj702&_phstart=successSource

[xxxiii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/32176464/person/18214176850/media/9c4b277d-f3dc-4a55-8ada-e096cc96c048?_phsrc=Zvj691&_phstart=successSource

[xxxiv]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/32176464/person/18214176850/media/9c4b277d-f3dc-4a55-8ada-e096cc96c048?_phsrc=Zvj691&_phstart=successSource

[xxxv] https://basic.newspapers.com/image/9141158/?terms=%22j%2Bw%2Bwarlick%22

Ruth E. Warlick grave marker.jpg

Ruth Warlick from honorstates.jpg

Ruth Warlick from findagrave.png

Ruth Warlick- Lubbock_Morning_Avalanche_Wed__Nov_1__1944_.jpg

Ruth E Warlick