A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
WAVES didn’t just keep in touch with family and friends – they also kept up on the news of the day, including developments in the war, while they were in Boot Camp. Here, WAVES in the Cedar Falls boot camp read newspapers in front of one of their residence halls.
It comes from the National Archives.
Families back home wanted to know what was happening with their WAVES as they went through training. Here, boots at the Cedar Falls Boot Camp are having their pictures taken to send home to families and friends.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
In this photograph from the National Archives, WAVES are having lunch at the mess hall for the Yeoman Training facility in Stillwater at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University).
During boot camp, WAVES play bridge in their quarters in Bartlett Hall, Cedar Falls, Iowa. The photo comes from the National Archives.
WAVES (left to right) Jane Rosenbaum, June David and Thelma Stretch do their laundry and write letters in their quarters at Cedar Falls. The photograph comes from the National Archives.
WAVES in the mess hall at boot camp in Cedar Falla, Iowa.
They are (left to right): Paul Weis, Ann Walus, Edna Brown and Esther Swenson.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
No, this WAVE isn’t getting ready to go trick or treating (Happy Halloween). Juane Boegeman is happy because she’s getting to go on leave with Private Jerry Wampach from her boot camp in Cedar Falls.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
All work and no play makes Jane a dull WAVE. At the Radio School on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, WAVES held a jitterbug content – and this couple took home the top award.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
WAVE Ann Atridge leads a group of WAVES at the radio training school in Madison, Wisconsin, in rehearsal for their weekly radio broadcasts on a local radio station.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
It wasn’t all work and no play for the WAVES in the initial training camps, which opened in fall of 1942.
Here, WAVES at the Stillwater, Oklahoma, Yeoman training school raise their voices in song as they gather around a piano.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
Hinges of History 