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  Lauretta Thomson (Hoyt)
Loretta Therese Thomson was born on April 6, 1920, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Margaret T Henehan and Kent Chester Thomson She had two sisters Eleanor and Evelyn and two brothers Frank and Kent. In Rye her family lived at 667 Forrest Ave and were members of the Church of the Resurrection.
Lauretta was a Rye High School graduate, Class of 1939. She was a member of the famous "Rye Colleens" softball team that went to Rochester to play in the state championship in 1939. Before the war, she was employed as a secretary.
 Lauretta enlisted May 6, 1943 and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. The WAC were first trained in three major specialties. The brightest and nimblest were trained as switchboard operators. Next came the mechanics, who had to have a high degree of mechanical aptitude and problem solving ability.
This was later expanded to dozens of specialties like Postal Clerk, Driver, Stenographer, and Clerk-Typist. WAC armorers maintained and repaired small arms and heavy weapons that they were not allowed to use.
 Pfc. Lauretta Thomson received her basic training at Monticello, Ark., and in July, 1943 was assigned to duty at Hondo Field, Texas. A secretary before joining the WAC, she was an assistant dental technician at the navigation airbase.
 While at Hondo Field she also participated in the posts sports programs. Lauretta was captain of the WAC softball team and played second base for the team. She was an active member of the WAC bowling team at Hondo, as well as a forward on the WAC basketball team.
In 1944, Lauretta went to England as part of the US Air Technical Service Command and later on to France, serving as a clerk typist.
 Pfc. Lauretta Thomson, WAC Flown From England To France
H Q. US AIR TECHNICAL SERVICE COMMAND IN FRANCE
Pfc.. Lauretta T. Thomson , of 667
Forest Avenue , Rye , Is one of those
Air WACS now behind the lines in
France , down from her station in
England to help Air Technical Service Command in its giant task of
servicing America's fighters and
bombers. Pfc Thomson is a clerk typist in
this Air Force headquarters where
Allied aerial attacks against Germany are conceived .
THE RYE CHRONICLE Friday, May 1, 1945
The 150,000 women who served released the equivalent of 7 divisions of men for combat. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit and determination are immeasurable".
Lauretta was honorably discharged November 3, 1945.
 She returned home and married Hugh Arthur Hoyt and had one son and two daughters with him. She worked for many years in Stratford, CT and retired a secretary. She moved to Homosassa, Florida in 1981 from Stratford.
 Lauretta T. Thomson Hoyt, 68 of Homosassa died Monday August 29, 1988.
At the time of her death she was survived by a son, Hugh of Stratford; two daughters, Margaret Reade of Barrington, R.I., and Barbara of Bridgeport, Conn.; two brothers, Frank Thomson of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Kent Thomson of Freeport, N.Y.; a sister, Mary Jahelka of Melbourne; and four grandchildren.
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