Elizabeth Ann Machen Tallichet

Elizabeth Ann Machen Tallichet January 16, 1919 June 29, 2013 Elizabeth Ann Machen Tallichet, daughter of Olive Strayer and George L. Machen, was born in Harrisburg, 16 Jan., 1919. She attended public schools in Pennsylvania and graduated from Thaddeus Stevens High School in Lancaster, in 1936. In September 1942, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps and after basic training and officer candidate school, Lt. Machen was assigned to the Anti-Aircraft Unit of the Eastern Defense Command in Philadelphia, as a company and operations officer. From 1943 to 1948, she was assigned to the Military District of Washington (MDW) Fort Meyer, Va., as a company commander and later as WAC Staff Director for the MDW. On June 6, 1944, her only sibling, her brother, 1st Lt. Robert C. Machen, 101st Parachute Infantry Airborne Division, was killed in Normandy, France. In 1948, Captain Machen received a commission in the Regular Army and served on the War Department General Staff, Logistics Division. After resigning her commission in order to marry, she accompanied her husband to Budapest, Hungary, where he was US Military Attach‚ from 1949 to 1951. While in the military, Major Tallichet received a commendation medal for her service as a company commander and the War Department General Staff Award. In 1969, she earned her bachelor's degree from George Washington University (GWU) and began teaching math in the Fairfax County Public School System, Va. During that time she received her master's and doctoral degrees also from GWU in order to become a guidance counselor and eventually a school psychologist in the same school system. After retiring in 1984, she moved to State College, where she was active in the League of Women Voters and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force of Center County. Major Tallichet was also a field representative for Women in Military Service for America, Washington, DC. She leaves a daughter, Dr. Suzanne E. Tallichet, Professor of Sociology, Morehead State University, Morehead, Ky.; a son, Dr. Rene W. Tallichet, a psychologist; a granddaughter; a nephew, Robert C. Machen, Jr.; three grandnephews; and a grandniece. Memorial contributions may be made to organizations dedicated to eradicating child or animal abuse. She will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. Somewhere there stands a woman Her tour of duty over and won We will never forget her And to say "A job well done." For this soldier never died Just faded to a world beyond