A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
Memos like these went out to prospective WAVE officers shortly after the WAVES were founded on July 30, 1942. Think of it as a “save the date” card – for the military.
The memo is held by the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
WAVE Annabell Dean gets her first stripe sewn onto her uniform after graduating as an ensign from the Women’s Reserve Officers Training School at Smith College in Northampton, MA. She is being assisted by Ensign Mabel Theobald.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
In early October, 1944, the first full WAVES officer class began training at Smith College in Northampton, MA. The women would train for their duties alongside students enrolled in the college at the time, and many of the campus buildings and haunts were taken over by the Navy. The initial officer class began in August for a compressed training session; they would be the ones training this new class.
This is Capen House, which was the principle WAVES dormitory.
Hinges of History 