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Inez Stroud

Inez Stroud, a member of the WAC ASF Band, poses with her saxophone at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa in 1943. She is wearing the enlistees' summer khaki uniform.

Inez Stroud

Photograph: Inez Stroud, a member of the WAC ASF Band, poses with her saxophone at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa in 1943. She is wearing the enlistees' summer khaki uniform.

Inez Naomi Stroud (1909-1994) of Wilmington, North Carolina, served in the Women's Army Corps and then the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1969 .

Inez Namoi Stroud was born on 9 July 1909 in Wilmington, North Carolina. She was the third of nine children of the Rev. C.A. Stroud and Mrs. Beatrice Ford Stroud. Her father was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the family moved frequently.

Stroud was a graduate of the Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina.

She also studied music and cosmetology." Stroud joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. She served at various installations in the United States and Europe over the course of her career in the army, including three tours in Germany.

She frequently served as the organist for post chapels and was a saxophonist in the WAC band. Stroud was discharged in 1969 .

Stroud lived in Washington, D.C., and Greensboro, North Carolina, after her military service.

She continued her education at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and continued to play music at the Bethel AME Church.
Stroud died on 21 November 1994.

Image and narrative source: Gateway - Triad Digital History Collections

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