Tag Archives: 1940s

Blackie

Of course, where there are young men and young women during wartime, there is a chance for romance and adventure. And for the oh-so-innocent Josette Dermody, romance and adventure came in a dashing package known as Blackie.

Blackie was my epitome of being a sailor. He loved his ship. He loved being a sailor and in a sense he loved me. But, I found out that one day he was dating me, but he would drop me off and go find the other kind of woman for the evening and stuff. He was scary but he was exciting.

This photo comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Protecting Each Other

Josette Dermody (second from right in this photo) remembers the gruff-with-a-heart-of-gold Chief who commanded her group of WAVES and sailors.

He was a great big guy, regal guy. He probably would have been retired but he came back for the war. He was wonderful to us.  He had one rule: the sailors shouldn’t use bad language around ladies. So we had this thing because the sailors would swear. The chief would say, “No bad language!  We’re going to take your names!”  We had devised a face for “the man,” you know? And we’d put on our innocent faces and we’d say, “Bad language? Bad language? Did you hear anything???”  (laughs)  We didn’t want the guys to go on report for something stupid like that.

This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Chutzpah

We weren’t that different from our brothers. Working class kids mostly, you know. A certain amount of American chutzpah and the cockiness. You could tell the sailors from the Marines. And you could tell – as recruits — and you could tell them from the Army.  Because even though the services sorted people out, the personalities sorted in the way — and the sailors are much larkier. I remember when they brought a whole bunch of refugees from somewhere and they had this great big banner up.  Not “mission accomplished” it said, “If we had known you were coming, we’d have baked a cake” (laughs).  I mean, that’s one of the things I love about the Navy.

-Josette Dermody, World War II WAVE

This photograph shows Josette Dermody (at far left) in the wedding party for a fellow WAVE to a sailor. It comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

A Close Group

Josette Dermody (at far left in this photo), worked as a gunner’s mate at Treasure Island in San Francisco, training men to shoot at moving targets. It was a small, close-knit group who worked and played together.

 Mostly we stuck together because, you know — let me see, there were probably 30 of us. And depending upon your duty hours and that sort of stuff — then since our work was with the guys, it wasn’t with the gals as much — although it wasn’t exclusive particularly.  It was just the way the work went.

This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Navy Lingo

I fall into Navy jokes. We called the blankets the admiral so you could write home and say, “I was sleeping with my admiral” (laughs).  There was a lounge upstairs with no men allowed. And a phone, I think one phone in the hallway, which meant you had to train your roommates to take your messages.  “Tell Ronald I’m dying of pneumonia and tell my mom I’ll call her back next Tuesday (laughs) and tell Gerald I’m” — you don’t want to sound too eager.  “Oh, it’s you Gerald! Yes da da da da da.”  Everybody talks about all the camaraderie, so in one sense we were not exactly careful, but close to each other. We made a circle around where the guys would not wear us down.

-Josette Dermody, World War II WAVE

This photograph shows WAVES and sailors going out for a meal; Josette Dermody is third from the left. It comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

12th Naval District

The Navy divided up the country into various Naval Districts, or administrative hubs. Josette Dermody was stationed in the 12th Naval District, which was headquartered in San Francisco and included Colorado; Utah; Nevada except Clark County); northern part of California (basically north of tSan Luis Obispo, Kings, Tulare, and Inyo counties).

This is a copy of the WAVES newsletter for the District 12. The cover is especially striking – an art deco-style image incorporating a WAVE and what appears to be a stylized ship. It comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Gunner’s Mate

After boot camp, Josette Dermody was tapped to become a Gunner’s Mate.  She would be training men to shoot at moving targets.

We went to gunnery school because they said we had to be able to face down the sailors.  “We don’t need girls who’ve never even fired a shot.” So they, you know, being in the gunnery thing was hard work. It was hard work because the guns were so big. You had to break them down and put the back together again and all that. They were always laughing.  “It takes two of you to carry what one guy can carry!”

This is the cover of her memoir about her experience as a WAVE. You can buy the book here. It’s a great read!

Something Nautical

I grew up in Detroit.  And Detroit is on the river. There are a lot of boats and a lot of ships. We were Depression kids, but various people had uncles who had boats and they would take you sailing and stuff. I read every book about sailing there was. Sea Here, Mr. Boditch and All Sails Set and all that stuff. It seems if I was going to be doing something adventurous, it might as well be something with the sea.  I still love being by the water.

– Josette Dermody, World War II WAVE

This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

The “Campaign”

You had to be 20 to go in.  Your brothers could go in at 18.  And so I had a lot of friends that spent their 19th year trying to persuade the old man to sign for you. “What about Rosie O’Donnell’s father letting her join the Marines and you don’t mean to say the O’DConnells have more moxie than the Demodys!”  It was a campaign.

-Josette Dermody, World War II WAVE

This photo from the WAVES Hunter College boot camp shows Josette Dermody at front lower right (with her head turned). It comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Meet Josette Dermody

Josette Dermody was born in Detroit, Michigan. She grew up in a Catholic family, attended parochial school and really really didn’t want the future she thought was mapped out for her:

I was supposed to go to the Convent.  The nuns had me. They were zeroed in on me and I didn’t want to. Becoming a nurse, becoming a teacher, working in an office or a nun and that, that was about it.  And of course getting married and having twelve kids.

So first chance she got, she enlisted in the WAVES.  This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.