Margaret Anderson Thorngate was sworn into the WAVES at the beginning of January 1944, and was sent to boot camp in the Bronx, NY., at Hunter College. Margaret’s favorite part of boot camp was learning to march for the regimental review. She was in the marching band in high school and loved the rhythm of marching to the band.
After boot camp she was assigned to yeoman’s (a “yeoman” in the Navy does secretarial duties) school in Cedar Falls, IA., for three months. She was ultimately stationed at the base in San Francisco, where she could easily visit her family at home. She worked downtown in the Federal Building along with eight to 10 other WAVES and they made $90 a month, which at that time meant, “you could live it up.”
Hinges of History 