Desegregation efforts usually meant placing African-Americans into white military units. The African-American WAC detachment at Ft. Lewis, WA, was an exception. It remained predominantly black throughout the Korean War.

	Mary Teague Smith

Mary Teague Smith, the detachment commander, noticed that her black WACs were promoted more slowly than white women in other units. Her complaints passed up the chain of command without results until Teague was reassigned to Japan in 1952.

Whites assigned to the detachment complained because they were in the minority. In 1952, the Secretary of the Army informed the House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services of intentions to reassign personnel so that African-American women would comprise only 20 percent of the unit.