Tag Archives: 1940s

Meeting Eleanor Roosevelt

Dorothy Turnbull joined the WAVES in 1943. She headed to boot camp at Hunter College and was selected to become a recruiter. Because of her connections in New Orleans, they wanted her to be stationed there. But when she finished boot camp there weren’t any openings, so she spent another eight weeks at Hunter making sure the new boots didn’t get into trouble as part of the Shore Patrol. She also helped out with visiting dignitaries.

Eleanor Roosevelt came to visit us when I was on Shore Patrol. Well, ship service is what they called us.  And here she is getting out and I think I might have been one of these.  My claim to fame is when she was going into the building from getting out here and going down here, I held the door for her (laughs).  With my backside as I’m (laughs).  That was my claim to fame.

This photograph comes from the collection of Dorothy Turnbull Stewart.

To New York

It was in 1943 when Dorothy Turnbull headed to boot camp at Hunter College. While she was there, they tried to discover what she could do in the Navy.

They interviewed you and tested you and did all of this with us.  And marched around, and I enjoyed that. So as I would be interviewed, I realized I couldn’t say I wanted, I was – I was good in numbers, but I sure didn’t want to go to bookkeeping or storekeeping, or whatever they called it.  I couldn’t imagine myself as selling anything or that storekeeping, you see (laughs). That’s what I thought it was.  All I could do was talk and tell them about things I believed in.  So they decided that that’s all I could do, and that’s what a recruiter does.

This photograph of Dorothy’s boot class comes from the collection of Dorothy Turnbull Stewart.

Needing to Help

After her mother’s illness, Dorothy Turnbull returned to the University of Miami and finished school there.

After school. she came back to New Orleans, and felt like she needed to do something.

We had what was called “Sub-Deb Parties.”  The Roosevelt Hotel, it’s still going today I think, but it was one of our main features.  We had the Hawaiian Room where they had a waterfall and stuff. We had a Sunday afternoon tea dance for the officers that were stationed in the area. And we entertained. That’s what our war contribution (laughs). I decided when I graduated I was going to come back to New Orleans and join the Navy in New Orleans. So that’s what I did.

This photograph comes from the collection of Dorothy Turnbull Stewart.

Too Close for Comfort

Dorothy Turnbull’s family brought her mother back to New Orleans from Florida as it became clear she wasn’t getting well. She passed away a short while later.

When she passed away, I was ready to go back to school. So I went to Newcomb because my father was still there. My brother was off in the Navy. I didn’t — I just — my father and I were too close. I didn’t want to go out when I knew he was going to be home. And he worried about when I was out, things like this. So we decided I would go back and finish my college degree at the University of Miami, for the last part of the senior years.

This photograph of Dorothy’s father comes from the collection of Dorothy Turnbull Stewart.

A Mother’s Illness

Dorothy Turnbull attended high school in New Orleans. She was a member of a high school sorority, and then after she graduated she went to Newcomb College in New Orleans and joined a sorority there.

It was when she was in her first year of college at Newcomb, that it was announced that the United States had been attacked at Pearl Harbor. Around the same time her mother was diagnosed with cancer.

We did have rationing.  All this stuff is going on. My mother, of course, wasn’t a house keeper at the time.  She was really bed ridden.  So we had help. (Then) my father decided it might be a good idea to bring her down to Miami. A change of climate and everything.

Dorothy stayed behind in New Orleans for a year or so, and then moved to Miami to be with her father and mother.

This photograph of Dorothy’s mother comes from the Dorothy Turnbull Stewart collection.

Mardi Gras Crewes

Because Dorothy Turnbull was from New Orleans, her family was involved in the pre-Lenten tradition of Mardi Gras. Her father belonged to one of the city’s crewes.

I never was a debutante. They have certain of the crewes, the big old celebration, but certain of them are for the debutantes, the elite of the elite. They pay more, of course, they have the bigger parades. They have all of the atmosphere.

This is a photograph of one of the Mardi Gras celebrations Dorothy participated in, c. 1940. It comes from the collection of Dorothy Turnbull Stewart.

 

Dorothy Turnbull Stewart

Meet Dorothy Turnbull (Stewart). Dorothy served as a WAVE during World War I. She was a recruiter based in southern Texas and she encouraged women to enlist in the WAVES during World War II.

Over the next few days, we’ll bring you Dorothy’s story, in her own words. She’s also featured in the film Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II.

This is a photograph of Dorothy during her Navy career. It comes from the collection of Dorothy Turnbull Stewart.

The Third Commander

Joy Bright Hancock, the former yeomanette, would become the third commander of the WAVES, succeeding Jean Palmer. She was appointed to her position in February of 1946, and would lead the WAVES through contractions of servicewomen in the 1940s and expansion in the 1950s.

Hancock was the WAVES leader when the women became a part of the regular Navy. She retired in 1953.

This photograph comes from the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Dorothy Stratton

Dorothy Stratton, who had been dean of women at Purdue University before the war, was a member of the first WAVE officer class in August of 1942. A few months later she was asked to head another new women’s military group: the Coast Guard SPARs (from the Coast Guard Motto Semper Paratus, Always Ready).

She said of her appointment to lead the Coast Guard:

I knew nothing about the Coast Guard, nothing. I had never seen a Coast Guard officer. I didn’t know anything. I think I felt if that was the place where I could work, that was fine with me. In other words, I only cared about being where I could feel I was doing something useful, and I thought this was something useful.

About 12,000 women served in the SPARs during World War II. They were decommissioned at war’s end, and women weren’t allowed to join the Coast Guard again until 1949.

This photograph comes from the National Archives.

Jean Palmer

Though Women’s History Month has ended, we’re going to continue our feature on women’s Navy firsts for the next few days.

Jean Palmer enlisted in the Navy in 1942. She would become the second woman to command the WAVES, taking over the position after Mildred McAfee stepped down in 1945.

She said of her service:

You had to be able to adapt. There were many interesting jobs, and I felt that at the end of the four year perdio the people who had the brains and the background found their way into those jobs…One of the advantages of being a woman in a service that never had women before, you never quite knew whether they would treat you like a lady or like an officer..

Palmer left the Navy in 1946. She became director of admissions at Barnard College. Palmer died in 1992.

This photograph comes from the National Archives. Palmer is third from the left.