A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
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.
One of the women who served as a Yeoman (F) was Joy Bright Hancock. Hancock enlisted and was assigned to serve in the the Office of the Naval Superintendent of Construction, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. She actually lived at home with her parents and commuted to the office during the war!
After World War I, Hancock remained with the Navy as a civilian, working in the Bureau of Aeronautics. She reenlisted during World War II as a WAVE officer, and would later become WAVES Director. She retired from the Navy in 1953, and died in 1986.
This photograph comes from the Naval History and Heritage Command.
Hinges of History 