Sgt Helene Maertens de Coster enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1944 and served in the US Army for more than 20 years. She was one of twenty-nine Danish born WACs during the Second World War.
LACW Helga Marie Vest Jørgensen was one of the Danish women who served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during the Second World War. One in seven of the Danish volunteers in the Allied air forces was a woman. Often their stories are little known.
Six Danish airmen were on operation in the skies over Normandy on 6 June 1944. Two were involved in bombing the coastal batteries, three provided fighter cover over the Channel and the beaches, and the last carried out an improvised reconnaissance mission.
During the Second World War an ambulance was donated to the Royal New Zealand Air Force by the Danish Association in New Zealand. A number of photographs in the collection of the Royal Danish Library document the event at which some of the Danish volunteers were present.
