A good cartoon makes the rounds in a WAVE recreation lounge room, NAS Anacostia DC.
From the National Archives.
Tag Archives: 1940s
Veterans
From the start of the WAVES, the women were “in” the Navy, qualifying for all veteran benefits. The same as the men.
This comic comes from the collection of Liane Rose Galvin.
A Woman’s Touch
Who doesn’t like a dust ruffle? Certainly adds a bit of flair to those Navy bed corners.
This comic comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Improving the Decor
Of course WAVES wanted to keep things “ship shape”!
This comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Seafood
The WAVES’ name evoked the ocean – and even though many bases and training centers were landlocked, the Navy still was associated with the sea. And so, dinner expectations.
This comic comes from the collection of Liane Rose Galvin.
Why We Fight
This likely isn’t what the military was thinking about when they released the film Why We Fight or when they came up with the slogan “Free a Man to Fight.”
The comic from an unknown magazine comes from the collection of Liane Rose Galvin.
The Newbie
This comic (using a modified version of the “little girl” look seen on WAVES’ greeting cards) pokes fun at the disorientation women felt when entering boot camp. It also offered a pretty clever way of getting out of trouble – the “I’m new” approach.
This cartoon comes from the The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
The Military Team
Comics about the WAVES’ experiences appeared in the dozens of military training center and base newspapers/newsletters across the country. But mass market newspapers and magazines also offered cartoons and other drawn interpretations of the WAVES’ experience. Some, like this one, offered an inspirational message, showing the women as part of a larger military team which included military men, WACs, Women Marines and even a Red Cross “donut Dolly” woman.
And note the dates of the War Bond Drive.
This comes from the archives at the University of Northern Iowa.
Greeting Cards
The illustrations of WAVES spilled over into greeting cards, which were made for a variety of occasions, including just to say “hello.” But there were also cards to congratulate a woman on her enlistment, to bid a farewell when she was heading to boot camp, to celebrate a birthday or a holiday, etc.
What’s interesting is how many of the cards portray the WAVES. Rather than the young women seen in other illustrations, greeting cards inevitably show the WAVE as a child, with pudgy legs and cheeks and few womanly curves in her figure.
This card comes from the collection of Liane Rose Galvin.
Happy Fourth of July!
This WAVE greeting card comes from the collection of Liane Rose Galvin. May you have a safe and happy Fourth of July!
Hinges of History 