Hinges of History

WAVES received this notice from President Harry Truman at the end of their military service.

I think the WAVES are kind of the hinges of history. They were there when the world changed.  And they didn’t cause it particularly bu t it wouldn’t have happened in the same way if the women hadn’t have been there. The Navy was such a different world. Men and women learned to get along with each other in different ways.  (laughs) As I say, we were the hinge. We grew up in this old world watching our mothers and our fathers and then our marriages were completely different.

– Josette Dermony, World War II Navy WAVE.

This comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.