I’ll be home for Christmas (if only in my Dreams).
Happy holidays from the WAVES and Homefront Heroines.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
Tag Archives: Christmas
Sneak a Peek
Yeoman Anne C. Fee takes a peek at the gift she’s wrapping as part of the “Wives and WAVES” Committee in December 1944. The group wrapped a thousand presents for Navy and Marine casualties at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Merry Christmas and and enjoyable holiday season!
The photo comes from the National Archives.
Gift Wrapping
Members of the “Wives and WAVES” Committee wrap some of the thousand gifts they received to be delivered to Navy and Marine casualties at the Naval Medial Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
The December 1944 photograph comes from the National Archives.
Candelight Service
A trio of WAVES carol at the candlelight service at Port Hueneme, California in December 1943. They are (left to right) Yeoman B.J. Phipps, Storekeeper E.J. Dais, and Yeoman F. J. Roberts.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
‘a Caroling
Tis the season. WAVES carol at a candlelight service at Port Hueneme, California in December 1943.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
December 1944
Happy December!
The December, 1944 edition of the WAVES Newsletter finds a photograph of a WAVE stepping out of a plane. We’d probably expect a Christmas-themed cover these days….
On Location
Here Come the WAVES previewed at the WAVES boot camp training facility at Hunter College and at the Naval Air Station in San Diego before the film’s premiere in New York City. The reason? The film was shot on location at the two facilities (as seen in the film still above) with WAVES acting as extras.
Merry Christmas!
May all of your holidays be safe and and happy.
This 1940s-era Christmas card comes from the collection of Liana Galvin.
Our Holiday Greeting
This year, we decided to have our annual holiday greeting tied to the “Hollywood Holidays” theme we’ve been working on the last couple of weeks. The reason? This is the 70th anniversary of the release of Bing Crosby’s hit White Christmas. The song topped the charts in the weeks leading up to Christmas in 1942, and would go on (according to the Guinness Book of World Records) to be the biggest selling song of all time.
The song was first performed in a radio show in 1941, and was a part of the movie Holiday Inn, which was released in July of 1942.
WAVE Helen Gilbert remembered being in training camp as the holidays approached in 1942:
The first Christmas in Wisconsin, it was very sad. We were all homesick. We were just a bunch of young girls who wanted to go home. I remember Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. Every time it went on we were just sobbing. It was crazy, but we lived through it and finally graduated.
May your days be merry and bright and all your Christmases be white.
The Poster
Publicity poster for the Hollywood feature film Here Comes the WAVES, which premiered Christmas week, 1944.
Hinges of History 