Cedar Falls – Hinges of History

Yeoman’s Work

We’re continuing our series looking back at the life of Eileen Horner Blakely, who died December 30th at the age of 96.

After training at Yeoman’s school in Cedar Falls, Eileen was stationed in Washington D.C.

Photobucket

The photo above was taken at Iowa State Teacher’s College in Cedar Falls where Eileen (and Thorngate ) trained.

“I always say I joined the Navy to see the sea and I saw D.C.”

She was in the city when President Roosevelt died in 1943 and remembers seeing, through tears, the riderless horse follow the procession down Pennsylvania Avenue (pictured below).

“I really did at that point realize that I was, you know – small minute part, but a part of history.”

Remembering Eileen Horner Blakely

We got word that Ethel Eileen Horner Blakely died December 30th at the age on 96. Eileen planned her own birthday party in October, and was an amazing woman. This week in her honor we’re sharing some of our posts about Eileen’s life.

She joined the WAVES in 1944 at 20 years of age. She was persuaded to join along with a church friend whose husband was in the army. Eileen went to Hunter College in the Bronx, New York, for boot camp and next to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for Yeoman’s school (a “Yeoman” in the Navy does secretarial work). She was in the same school at the same time as Margaret Thorngate, and they are sitting near each other in their unit portrait.

Eileen, originally from Ohio, saw her life as quiet and dull. She wanted to make a difference and joining the Navy seemed the patriotic thing to do. With a desire to get out of her comfort zone, she signed up for the WAVES – a place where she was needed.

“I have an uncle who joined the day after Pearl Harbor … A year later another uncle joined the Navy. The year after that, my brother joined the Navy. So when 1944 came, I decided it was my turn. So I joined the Navy.”

Pay Day

Pay day at boot camp, Iowa State Teacher’s College, Cedar Falls, February 1943.

The Wayne Miller photo comes from the National Archives.

Bridge, Anyone?

WAVES play bridge in Bartlett Hall at the boot camp in Iowa State Teacher’s College, Cedar Falls. Iowa State Teacher’s College (now Northern Iowa University) transitioned to a yeoman training facility in February 1943.

The Wayne Miller photograph comes from the National Archives.

1/1/1945

Happy 2015! This is the yearbook from Iowa State Teacher’s College in Cedar Falls (now Northern Iowa University),where the WAVES had a training school.

It comes from the college’s Archives and Special Collections.

Joan Angel

Joan Angel, author of “Angel of the Navy,” sends birthday greetings to the Cedar Falls boot camp on its first anniversary in Fall 1943. Her book was used as a recruitment tool during World War II.

The Luggage!

Piles of luggage, and scores of WAVES, as both await the trains to take them from boot camp at Cedar Falls, Iowa, to new places of instruction.

The photograph by Lt. Wayne Miller comes from the National Archives.

At Ease

WAVES are “at ease” during the Captain’s Inspection at the Cedar Falls boot camp in February 1943.

The photograph by Lt. Wayne Miller comes from the National Archives.

Daily Exercise

From the Navy caption of this February, 1943 photograph by Lt. Wayne Miller:

Daily gym instruction keeps WAVES ship shape at Boot Camp, Cedar Falls, Iowa.

February 1943 would be the last month the Cedar Falls facility at Iowa State Teacher’s College would be used as a boot camp. The Hunter College training center in the Bronx, New York, opened that same month.

The photo comes from the National Archives.

The Navy, Part II

This is the second two page spread the Old Gold dedicated to the work of the Navy at Iowa State Teacher’s College. The yearbook focused in this section on the WAVES’ daily routine.

The yearbooks come from the archives and special collections at the University of Northern Iowa.