The FReeper Foxhole Profiles World War II era WAVES - March 14th, 2004

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/prs-tpic/females/wvw2-rc.htm ^

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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World War II era WAVES

After a twenty-three-year absence, women returned to general Navy service in early August 1942, when Mildred McAfee was sworn in as a Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander, the first female commissioned officer in U.S. Navy history, and the first Director of the WAVES, or "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service".



In the decades since the last of the Yeomen left active duty, only a relatively small corps of Navy Nurses represented their gender in the Naval service, and they had never had formal officer status. Now, the Navy was preparing to accept not just a large number of enlisted women, as it had done during World War I, but female Commissioned Officers to supervise them. It was a development of lasting significance, notwithstanding the WAVES' name, which indicated that they would only be around during the wartime "Emergency".



Establishing the WAVES was a lengthy effort. Inter-war changes in the Naval Reserve legislation specifically limited service to men, so new legislation was essential. Though far-sighted individuals in the Navy Department, and especially in the Bureau of Aeronautics, had long known that uniformed women would be a wartime necessity, general service opinion was decidedly negative until the crisis at hand. Even then, creative intrigue had to be used to get an authorization through The Congress. President Roosevelt signed it into law on 30 July 1942. The next few months saw the commissioning of Mildred McAfee, and several other prominent female educators and professionals, to guide the new organization.



Recruiting had to be undertaken (or at least managed, as the number of interested women was vast), training establishments set up, an administrative structure put in place and uniforms designed. The latter effort produced a classic design that still has many elements in use nearly six decades later. Difficulties were overcome with energy and indispensable good humor, and within a year 27,000 women wore the WAVES uniform.



These women served in a far wider range of occupations than had the Yeomen (F). While traditionally female secretarial and clerical jobs took an expected large portion, thousands of WAVES performed previously atypical duties in the aviation community, Judge Advocate General Corps, medical professions, communications, intelligence, science and technology.





The wartime Navy's demand for them was intense as it struggled to defeat Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific. At the end of the conflict, there were well over 8,000 female officers and some ten times that many enlisted WAVES, about 2 ½ percent of the Navy's total strength. In some places WAVES constituted a majority of the uniformed Naval personnel. And many remained in uniform to help get the Navy into, and through, the post-war era.

A special image selection on the Navy's World War II era WAVES, selected from the more comprehensive coverage can be found in the following links:

• Recruiting and Training;
  

• Quarters & Meals;
  

• Recreation, Leisure & Good Deeds;
  

• Ship and Aviation Orientation;
  

• Transportation
  Transportation Part II;
  

• Occupations--Aviation Related;
  

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon Victoria.

[SAMWolf]

Busy.

[SAMWolf]

Afternoon stand watie.

[snippy_about_it]

!!!!!

free dixie!

[SAMWolf]

So, Spain lost...

:-( We have a whole industry built around "soap Operas" here.

[stand watie]

HOWDY, sam!

dixie MUST be free,sw

[SAMWolf]

dixie MUST be free,sw

If Kerry wins, maybe that'll be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

[stand watie]

very possibly!

BUT he won't win.not this year, not ever, as the TRUTH about him will OUT!

Hanoi-John has about the same chance as i do to take the oath of office.

free dixie,sw

[SAMWolf]

It's gonna be a long campaign, the truth will come out, the Press cna't give 100% cover anymore, thanks to the Internet and Talk Radio. It's a new world.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hiya, Snippy!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Busy.

Me too! LOL

[SAMWolf]

Spring is here, doing the winter clean-up.

[Samwise]

It's not looking good in Spain, though.

When the going gets tough, they tuck tail? My heart aches for them, but I certainly don't understand giving the enemy exactly what he wants.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hehe, ain't that fun. I'll be doing the same thing soon. I just need to find the time and the energy to do that.

[Samwise]

I never understood the "I have no idea" category, how can you have no idea or opinion?

Actually, I have more respect for being undecided that I do for being on both sides of an issue (a la Kerry).

Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!

They are at least getting out of the way. LOL

[The Mayor]

All done about an hour ago...

no runs, no drips, no errors !
Soon hot water will be flowing again!

[Samwise]

They attacked Spain three days before the election - right in time to change people's preferences and don't let them come to their senses again.

Well, those are pretty horrific pictures. I had read about them doing that, but I hadn't actually seen it. It is so much worse to see than it is to hear about.

I, too, wish the Spanish people had had some time to recover before they went to the voting booths. They are still in shock.

We were in shock after 9/11. The press was all over Bush; some even accused him of running away. Washington D.C. was under attack; the White House was targeted; the Secret Service whisked Bush away to a secure location; and the slimy press accused him of running. That still makes me steam.

When Bush lifted that megaphone and rallied the workers at the Trade Center, he rallied a nation. Had there been an election immediately after the attacks, who knows what the result would have been.

And now, I am afraid again. I'm afraid that the terrorists were so successful in Spain that they will try it here. This is probably the most important election of my lifetime.

You are right, Matthew. God help us all.

[SAMWolf]

Actually, I have more respect for being undecided that I do for being on both sides of an issue (a la Kerry).

Can't argue with that one. I can understand undecided, for a while, but not "no opinion".