“I knew I was making history”
~ Doris “Joy” Thurston

Our featured veteran of today is Doris “Joy” Thurston who was born in Chicago, Illinois in October 1923 and became a member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) from 1944 to 1946.

Doris recorded her wartime experiences in words and pictures in A WAC Looks Back: Recollections and Poems of WWII. She was part of a special project for the Women in Military Service for America Foundation (WIMSA). Her father was a chemical engineer with MIT and mother was a singer, piano player and actress. She was one of three children with two brothers who served in Korea.

Prior to enlisting with the Army as a WAC, Doris attended the SYRACUSE University for 2 years spending evenings dancing and singing in musicals and later took a year off to work at NBC studios as a page girl, and retouching old master paintings for a Belgium art dealer.

As the war grew on, Doris began by volunteering to serve in hospitals. When the best painter in her Syracuse, New York class died in the Air force over France, she became angry & wanted to become involved and help returning veterans who lived through the war experience. She hated war and killing.

Her eyes were not good enough for the Waves. The Army officer who signed Doris up said that they needed her to serve as an Occupational Services Assistant. She was also a graduate of Syracuse Art School. She worked 9 months in mental wards as an occupational therapy assistant before they sent her for training in NYC. After basic training, she was sent to Camp Van Dorn, MI & later transferred to Northington General Hospital in Tuscaloosa AL and worked in mental wards.

Doris asked for a transfer and went to a hospital in Augusta GA. She served as Special Services Artist and was asked to take charge of the WAC show which required that she write a musical, choreograph dances, write songs, design sets costumes, etc. They gave her the lead and her group toured 5 states playing to 20,000 GIs in hospitals. Dorothy received an accommendation from Washington for her talent, drive & interest which made the production possible.

Her mission in the Army was to lift and inspire hopeless patients, helping them return to civilian life. The Army allowed her to use all of her talents for dancing, singing, acting, poetry, sculpture, teaching, painting portraits which she used later in life performing as DORIS JOY from Greenland to South America with “Portraits in Song.” She has painted many portraits, became a yoga teacher, which cured her arthritis, & took a “Yoga Tour of India” with Swami Vishnu DeVenana.

Doris recalls a hard time adjusting back to civilian life and felt like a round peg in a square hole. Drawings and poetry helped her cope. In the end, it was the Army that recognized and used all of her talents of portrait painting, sculpture, and welcoming patients to the hospital. She was referred to as “Miss Reconditioning.” When Doris asked for a job in Special Services, she was sent from Northington General Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Oliver General in Augusta, Georgia and had a large art studio assigned to her . She Sketched many portraits in day rooms, told jokes & sang as she drew to entertain the hospitalized veterans.

Upon her return from war, Doris studied art at the Boston Museum School. Women seemed out of her sphere and did NOT know or understand what she had experienced. The men would comment, “Oh, so SHE was a WAC.” Doris loved her country too. She felt much more serious than the other women and received the BOIT DWG AWARD upon graduating with a diploma. Doris felt that she was trying to make up for two lost years of service and later realized that the war deepened her love of art, song, and acting. Doris choreographed over 12 spritual dance productions in La Grange, IL which led to numerous other religious dance productions and teaching others how to find PEACE. This was a 6-year venture.

She went on to share her WAC poems and drawings along with the Beatitude paintings with social workers and psychiatrists at the Palm Beach VA. They thought her work should help veterans with PTSD. Doris cried uncontrollable tears while writing A WAC LOOKS BACK in 1995, as she realized that painting the Beatitudes 20 years after her discharge was a form of healing her PTSD.

Doris is proud and grateful that she had the opportunity to serve. The army opened up her life to meeting all kinds of people. The world was her friend. She has a deeper love for her country, for man, and for God.

At the age of 90, Doris remains active with her daily pursuits with the art of giving back. We met through Doris contacting me through the Comes A Soldier’s Whisper website, where she wrote, “The Comes A Soldier’s Whisper book cover and website music brought tears to my eyes. I was a WAC serving in the hospitals with returning wounded soldiers during WWII. The book is a great legacy and helps in healing from PTSD.”

Please give Doris “Joy” Thurston a standing ovation for her life accomplishments and service to helping others.

Comes A Soldier’s Whisper in celebration of our men and women veterans.

Doris “Joy” Thurston
Artist/Author/Performer
www.DorisThurstonArts.com
*A WAC Looks Back: Recollections & Poems of WWII
*Stroke! A Daughter’s Story: Trauma and Triumphs Caring for A Father with Aphasia
*The Temple Within: Sonnets and Asanas

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www.comesasoldierswhisper.com