Zelma D. Abarbanel collection

Zelma D. Abarbanel was born on October 19, 1916, in New Haven, Connecticut. Abarbanel grew up in New Jersey, the oldest of three children. Abarbanel completed high school and business school before enlisting. She was twenty-six years old when she enlisted in the WAAC 1943, much to her parents' consternation. Abarbanel decided to enlist because of her patriotism, and in part because her Jewish heritage gave her a personal stake in the war in Europe.

Abarbanel completed Basic Training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa in February 1943, and was next stationed in Memphis, Tennessee for a year. While there, the WAAC became the WAC, and during the transition, the women were given the chance to go home rather than reenlist. Abarbanel decided to stay, and was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, where she would be stationed for the remainder of the war. Trained as a stenographer, Abarbanel worked as a colonel's assistant at the Infantry School in Fort Benning, in the Office of Weapons. During her three years at Fort Benning, Abarbanel made many close friends, and would also meet her husband, Milton Goldman Abarbanel. Although it was frowned upon for enlisted personnel and officers to socialize, the Abarbanels married in 1945. To Zelma Abarbanel's disappointment, Milton was transferred from Fort Benning after they married, and she traveled to Atlanta often to meet him until she was discharged from the army in December 1945. After the war, Abarbanel and her husband lived in New Jersey, and later moved to Florida. Zelma D. Abarbanel died March 3, 2010, in Tallahassee, FL. She recieved decorations for the American Theater, a Good Conduct Medal, and a Victory Medal.