A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
More than 70,000 women were on duty by the time the Navy celebrated the WAVES 2nd anniversary on July 30, 1944.
That included Evelyn Agrelius, Helen Tullose and Lucille Davis, who are checking and segregating horological instruments for the fleet at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.
The photo comes from the National Archives and was published to coincide with the WAVES 2nd anniversary.
Strike up the band! July 30, 1944 would be the 2nd anniversary of the WAVES, and the Navy sent out dozens of photographs to mark the occasion. We’ll take a look at some here on our blog in the days leading up to the anniversary.
This photograph comes from NAS Seattle, where the WAVES drum corps is marching to celebrate the day. It comes from the National Archives.
WAVE Specialist second class Jane Rockman aims a spotlight at an incoming plane to flash landing signal from the Control Tower at NAS Norfolk, Virginia.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
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WAVES catch a game of softball – how many of you are heading out to the ballpark, or picking up a few innings of your own, on this summer day?
The photograph comes from the National Archives
Winifred Quick would rise to a position of leadership in the Navy, but as this letter from July 15, 1943 shows, she wasn’t always so certain about putting on a uniform.
The letter is held by the special collections at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!!! Here are the headlines from July 14, 1944 in the Iowave, the base newsletter of the WAVES Yeoman facility in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The newspaper comes from the archives and special collections of the University of Northern Iowa.
For Field Day, WAVE Josephine Brauch cleans the windows at the WAVES quarters at NAS Seattle, Washington.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
This photograph from July 12, 1943 is of the last Captain’s inspection of the first graduating class of WAVES at the Naval Air Technical Training Center, Norman, Oklahoma.
Ensign Fitting is doing the inspection, while platoon leader Stroud follows close behind (no first names given).
The photo comes from the National Archives.
From the Navy caption of this 1944 photograph at Celestial Navigation:
Hilda Olson, Sp (T) 2c; Doris Propst, Sp (T) 2c and Joanna Bailey, SP (T) 2c, are given celestial theory instruction with the three-dimensial celestial sphere demonstrator by instructor Robert K. Rice AMM2c.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
During the 10-week Celestial Navigation course at NAS Seattle, WAVE instructors got a chance to practice “flights” in the navigator itself. Left to right are: Irena Aide (navigator), Linnea Peterson (instructor), Jane Hall (radio operator), and Elinor Johnson (pilot). The Navy began using Celestial Navigation in 1944.
The photograph comes from the National Archives.
Hinges of History 