A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
The run-up to the 2nd anniversary showed that WAVES worked and played. Here, Jacqueline Davis poses as the “pin girl” in the WAVES Quarters D bowling alley in Washington, DC.
The photo comes from the National Archives and was published to coincide with the WAVES 2nd anniversary.
WAVES Jean Nempel, Melva Dolan, and Mary Alice look over the 20 mm. guns aboard one of the PTs in the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
The photo comes from the National Archives and was published to coincide with the WAVES 2nd anniversary.
The photo corps was out in force as the WAVES anniversary approached. Here Mary Baker makes a suggestion to Ruse Nudo at NAS Norfolk, Virginia.
The photo comes from the National Archives and was published to coincide with the WAVES 2nd anniversary.
More than 70,000 women were on duty by the time the Navy celebrated the WAVES 2nd anniversary on July 30, 1944.
That included Evelyn Agrelius, Helen Tullose and Lucille Davis, who are checking and segregating horological instruments for the fleet at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.
The photo comes from the National Archives and was published to coincide with the WAVES 2nd anniversary.
Part of the build up to the WAVES 2nd Anniversary on July 30, 1944? Making sure the WAVES were in the news.
So on July 20th, 1944, the Navy held an exhibition tennis match with two pros: South American Francisco Segura and American William Talbert. They kindly posed with a couple of WAVES-in-training after the match was over.
This photograph was published in the WAVES Newsletter.
Continuing our look at photos released in conjunction with the WAVES 2nd anniversary 70 years ago, July 30, 1944, is this bit of coolness for your Summer Saturday.
In it, Eddie and Esther Kosalski grab a cone in the Ship Service Store at WAVE Quarters D in Washington DC.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
Strike up the band! July 30, 1944 would be the 2nd anniversary of the WAVES, and the Navy sent out dozens of photographs to mark the occasion. We’ll take a look at some here on our blog in the days leading up to the anniversary.
This photograph comes from NAS Seattle, where the WAVES drum corps is marching to celebrate the day. It comes from the National Archives.
WAVE Specialist second class Jane Rockman aims a spotlight at an incoming plane to flash landing signal from the Control Tower at NAS Norfolk, Virginia.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
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WAVES catch a game of softball – how many of you are heading out to the ballpark, or picking up a few innings of your own, on this summer day?
The photograph comes from the National Archives
Winifred Quick would rise to a position of leadership in the Navy, but as this letter from July 15, 1943 shows, she wasn’t always so certain about putting on a uniform.
The letter is held by the special collections at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Hinges of History 