Julia McWilliams (Julia Child)

At 30 years old, McWilliams transferred from the U.S. Office of War Information, where she was a typist, to the OSS in 1942, citing having "typed over 10,000 little white cards" as her reason for changing jobs. She worked as a file clerk in Washington and then as an assistant in the OSS director's office before earning a foreign posting in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka. In 1945 she transferred to China, where she was chief of registry in Chungking. McWilliams met her husband, Paul Child, while in the OSS, and after World War II they moved to Paris, where she attended Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, later becoming one of the most famous chefs in the world.

From a citation for the "Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service," found in her 130-page OSS personnel file, covering her work from March 20 to Oct. 13, 1945, in China: "Through her resourcefulness, industry and sound judgement, the important work of registering, cataloguing and channeling a great volume of highly classified communications and documents was performed with exceptional speed and accuracy. This in addition to the accurate filing system devised and set up by Miss McWilliams facilitated the efficient functioning of all branches of the agency. Her drive and inherent cheerfulness, despite long hours of tedious work, served as a spur to greater effort for those working with her. Her achievements reflect great credit upon herself and the Armed Forces of the United States."