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On the Town

It wasn’t all hard work for the WAVES. Even officers tasked with training fellow officers, like Franny Prindle Taft, could find time to break away for the occasionally bit of entertainment.

In this picture, Franny (center) is with another WAVE and an military man. They’re at a place called Pine Orchard, in summer of 1943.

Pine Orchard appears to be a country club or a nightclub or restaurant with an outside patio. We’ve done some basic research and can’t find out anything about it, but would love to know more if anyone has any details.

The photograph is courtesy of Franny Prindle Taft.

Lost Her Voice

Part of learning military protocol for WAVES including marching in formation. At Smith College, the officers in training marched across the fields on the Smith campus, led by officers like Franny Prindle Taft.

 

You have to go down by the waterfall to get down to the fields. And hupping the troops over the waterfall. I lost my voice then and it’s never really come back … went down and octave and stayed there.

Taft also remembers marching in formation for dignitaries who would come to visit and learn about the WAVES, such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

This photograph is courtesy of Franny Prindle Taft.

“Hupping” the Troops

WAVES stayed in dorms on the Smith College campus when in officer training at Northampton, but they ate all of their meals at the Wiggins Tavern in the historic Hotel Northampton. Wiggins was an area landmark and popular with locals, but it became WAVES-central during the war.

Franny Prindle Taft says she was named as company commander when at Smith. That meant it was her job to get the troops the half mile from the campus down Main Street to Wiggins on King Street three times a day to eat – and then back again after the meals for training or to quarters.

I hupped the troops down the hill and then I had to be the last one in line to see that they all went through. And then I had to be the first one out. So I think what I got in the Navy was the ability to eat very fast.

This photograph is courtesy of Franny Prindle Taft.

Special Recommendation

The first class of WAVES officers were gathered on special recommendation from people who knew the women who would serve. This was done to make sure that the Navy had women in command who were, in essence, a “known” quantity: women who held certain values, were smart, driven, and would represent the Navy well.

Franny Prindle was one of those women. This is the letter she received from WAVES’ leader Mildred McAfee, inviting her to become a WAVE officer in August of 1942. Prindle was recommended by Vassar College Dean Mildred Thompson, a woman McAfee knew personally from her tenure as dean of Wellesley College.

Prindle returned the application and was a member of the first WAVE officer training class at Smith College. She remained at Smith for the duration of the war, training other officers.

Love and Marriage

Franny Prindle met her husband-to-be Seth Taft while she was still in college. Seth was the grandson of the former U.S. President William Harding Taft.  They were both officers in the Navy.

Initially, WAVES weren’t allowed to be married. But the Navy discovered that they were losing out on some qualified women (or were forcing them to resign upon marriage). So first women were only allowed to marry outside of the Navy. Then that policy too changed, and WAVES were allowed to marry Navy men.

This photograph is of Franny on her wedding day: June 19, 1943. She and Seth were both Ensigns at the time – he wore his dress whites to the ceremony. She had a half-dozen bridesmaids and changed into her Navy uniform before departing on her honeymoon.

This photograph is courtesy of Franny Prindle Taft.

Special Permission

Navy WAVES were active, regular military. That meant they were expected to wear their uniforms during all public functions. Including weddings.

Franny Prindle, like other WAVES of the era, had to get a special dispensation from the Executive Officer of the Naval Reserve to wear something other than her uniform on her wedding day.  But note the special conditions: no photographs of Prindle outside of her uniform could be released to the press.

Franny Prindle Taft

Meet Franny Prindle Taft. She was a WAVE during World War II and spent her entire Navy career at Smith College in Northampton, training future officers. Taft was in the first full officer class at Smith College in the fall of 1942.

This photo was taken sometime in 1943 while she was on her honeymoon with her husband Seth Taft (the grandson of President William Howard Taft). They traveled up the Hudson River to Canada; both were officers in the Navy and had met while at college (she at Vassar, he at Yale).

 I did work in cancer research at Yale right after I got out.  That’s where I went immediately after graduation … I was making really almost no money, and I heard about the WAVES.   I didn’t want to go into anything that was kind of just an auxiliary with people jumping around in uniforms and not really doing very much.  And (the secretary to the Dean at Vassar College) assured me it was going to much more than that.

Frannie lives in the Cleveland area, where she teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

This photograph is courtesy of Franny Prindle Taft.

Getting the News

The Navy put out newsletters to keep the WAVES up to date. The newsletters at first started out quite simple – just a copied sheet or two of paper with a few sketches – but ultimately the publications became quite polished, featuring in-depth articles, photographs and even comics.

This newsletter was published in January of 1945. It was a national publication that was designed to go out to all WAVES regardless of where they served. The photo on a cover shows a WAVE working with sailors who are learning how to use pressurized masks for high-altitude flying.

The national newsletter focused on news of interest to any WAVE. But individual bases also put out newsletters, with location-specific information.

This newsletter is held in the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Coming Up Roses

Homefront Heroines director Kathleen Ryan and producer David Staton are at the Rose Bowl today. So in honor of the game and parade, we’re showing not roses but… cherry blossoms. After all, in the Tournament of Roses Parade everything on the floats is made of natural materials: flowers, seeds, leaves, etc.

This is WAVE Liane Galvin, an aerographer’s mate (weather forecaster) based in Washington, D.C. smelling the cherry blossoms during a D.C. spring in World War II.

New Year’s Day

Yesterday, we mentioned the idea of showing an image a day through 2012. Today we’re starting out with something festive.

During WWII, messages supporting the war effort were found in all sorts of interesting places. Including in fans.

This fan, found in the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, shows a woman dressed in patriotic clothing (note the braid and “overseas” hat she’s wearing), drawings of ships in battle at sea, and a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance.

This is the fan folded.