A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
The Navy gave each boot a battery of shots (all the women we’ve talked with remember them). That experience is featured in both photographs and comics like this image.
It comes from Marjorie Sue Green’s booklet From Recruit to Salty WAVE! The Ordeal of Seaman Green held by The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
Marjorie Sue Green’s booklet From Recruit to Salty WAVE! The Ordeal of Seaman Green comes from The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
June 14th is Flag Day, the day celebrating the adoption of the U.S. Flag in 1777 by the Second Continental Congress. It was officially established in 1914 via a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson and was reaffirmed by an Act of Congress in 1949.
Flag Day isn’t an official federal holiday, but it is a state holiday in Pennsylvania (the only state to recognize Flag Day as a holiday).
This photograph shows the retreat ceremony at the WAVES Yeoman School in Cedar Falls. It comes from the Naval History and Heritage Command.
Happy Flag Day!
This is a really fascinating document found in the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. It is a receipt for extra pay ($50) disbursed to Lucy W. Pimlott, on behalf of WAVES Lillian Pimlott. WAVES received the same pay as men, and like men often received extra money to pay for uniforms and uniform updates. It’s likely this is for a uniform or other supplement, as the $50 amount is much lower than all but one of the Navy pay rates (only an Apprentice Seaman, the lowest rank in the Navy, made $50 a month).
At this time of this disbursement, WAVE Lillian Pimlott was stationed in Hawaii working in the District Personnel office. She had been in the WAVES since 1943 and would later become a part of the post-World War II Navy.
This disbursement was likely a portion of Pimlott’s monthly base pay, sent home to help support her family.
Merrily Kurtz served in the WAVES until 1947, then eventually got married and had a family. She later joined WAVES National, the group for female sea services veterans.
She says of her time in the Navy and WAVES National:
I wanted to get away from home. I wanted to get out and see the world. And I did, I really did. And I have since. I’ve been lucky. I’ve gone to conventions and stuff. Met a lot of good people. That’s something. And I don’t know, isn’t that enough?
This photograph comes from the collection of Merrily Kurtz Hewett.
After boot camp, Merrily Kurtz headed to training to become a Storekeeper, the Navy parlance for a bookkeeper. Training took three months, and then Kurtz got her first assignment, in San Francisco. She had a week before her job began, and was traveling with several other WAVES across country by train. The group stopped in Chicago, and Kurtz and three other women spent a day on the town – and ended up getting left behind.
They were all gone. Except for the four of us girls. Nobody’s there. They hadn’t left a note for us or anything. So we went down to the train and finally got connections. One of the girls took over and asked about it. And then, so, our tickets were gone but they put us on a train. I guess they knew we weren’t lying. We were military or something. So they let us on the train and let us pick out the car we wanted to be on. So we went through two or three and said, “Oh, this will do.” And it was the worst one! (laughs) No air conditioning or anything. Oh, golly, and this was summer! So one of the girls, this Margaret Chan who lived here in Portland, she and I got off the train in Cheyenne. Which is definitely not the thing to do in the Navy. And we took the train home. Instead of going on to San Francisco, we took the train from Cheyenne to Portland and came home that way. Which made sense to a normal person (laughs). We paid for it. Oh, gee. I think we got bawled out for it but they didn’t do anything else to us.
This portrait of Kurtz in her Navy summer uniform comes from the collection of Merrily Kurtz Hewett.
One reason Merrily Kurtz selected the Navy was because of the fashionable Mainbocher-designed uniform.
We had measurements and tried them on. They came up to us, oh gee! You know, “What size are you?” They’d look at you and give you a size approximately (laughs). I didn’t have to have my altered. They gave me a buxom, and I’m glad. I don’t think that I’m a buxom, but they through I was. Evidently it gave me a little bit more room in the front. I don’t remember having to be altered. Then we got our shoes, and our hose and — it was so cold back in New York. We went in February. You marched everywhere, and the wind blowing off the reservoir was colder than blazes. I don’t know what the temperature was, but it was awful cold.
This photograph shows Merrily Kurtz and another WAVE marching. It comes from the collection of Merrily Kurtz Hewett.
For Merrily Kurtz, joining the Navy was a family affair.
My dad had been in the Navy and he kind of encouraged me to go in the Navy. When we’d talk about it, he’d say what a good time he had. Saw the world. Well, he didn’t see much of the world, Chicago, mostly, and the Great Lakes. But he encouraged me to go in, through it would be good for me to see some of the world. I signed up to go in the WAVES.
This photo shows Merrily Kurtz on the job. It comes from the collection of Merrily Kurt Hewett.
It wasn’t just the Navy officers who were happy to see the WAVES. The enlisted men were as well.
Just getting more familiar – some of those fellas had been over there three and four years and didn’t know what a woman looked like .. and of course we were pretty good lookin.’
– Merrily Kurtz Hewett, WAVE
This photograph shows the first enlisted WAVE to arrive in Hawaii, Mary Babine, being presented with the traditional lei and a welcoming kiss by sailor E.R. Baker.
The WAVES travelled aboard an L-S-T ship, or troop transport ship. It was mostly women aboard – the only sailors were the crew.
It was fun being aboard ship. We did zig-zag, we could see where we zig-zagged. Didn’t need to, but taking precautions, I think. This was early in ’44 — no later in ’44. But anyway, a couple of the girls fell in love with the sailors. That was the disease, I think, with the women, with the sailors (laughs). Away from home. We had a good time aboard ship. We didn’t have any rough weather, I didn’t get seasick.
– Merrily Kurtz Hewett, WAVE
This photograph shows WAVES leaving their ship in Hawaii. It comes from the National Archives.
Hinges of History 