Rain Clouds

Eileen had a moment of doubt when she was in boot camp.  She remembers waking up at Hunter College in New York to a  particularly rainy and overcast morning.  The WAVES were marching to breakfast wearing “havelocks.” (A havelock is a covering, pictured below, that hangs down from a military hat for protection in rain or sun. Eileen calls it, “rain gear.”)  She questioned her decision to enlist for a moment that morning.

“Clump clump clump.  We probably looked like we were nuns from the nunnery or something.  You know, dark clothes, marching along.  And I looked over at the – there was the El train you know, high. You could see the lights of it.  And I thought to myself, “What on earth did I sign up for? What did I think I was doing? Marching along at this ungodly hour to get breakfast? … And that was the one time when I wondered why I was where I was.” 

Navy WAVES, pictured above, marching in Cambridge, Mass. (US Navy photograph)

First “chow” is served by the Red Cross at the Hunter College campus, as the facility is placed in service as the basic training center for Navy and Coast Guard women, 8 February 1943. (US Navy photograph)