A Blog About Women Who Were Homefront Heroines: the WAVES of World War II
In preparation for Sunday’s screening at the San Pedro International Film Festival, we’re giving you a sneak peak of the film Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II. In this clip, WAVE Susan Ahn Cuddy talks about her experiences joining the WAVES. We’re hoping Ahn will be able to join us at the film festival too!
We hope to see you tomorrow, October 6th at 1230pm.
We’re getting prepared for our latest film festival screening, so the next few blog posts will a brief break from historical photos of the WAVES. We’ll be at the San Pedro International Film Festival on Sunday, October 16th at 12:30pm. We hope to see you there.
In the meantime, here’s a trailer for the Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II.
This WAVE is working in the dispensary at California’s Port Hueneme as a pharmacist’s mate, c. 1943.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
This image looks really similar to the one we featured yesterday, from the cover of the WAVES Newsletter. But in this image from October of 1943, the two WAVES are studying the technique of air traffic control at the Air Traffic Control Tower Operators School, NAS Atlanta, Georgia.
The women’s course of study was six weeks long beyond boot camp. When they completed, they received a rate at 3/c petty officer and were assigned to air traffic control towers across the country.
The photo comes from the National Archives.
The October 1943 edition of the WAVES Newsletter features Machinist’s Mates measuring to some pretty exact specifications – look at all the tools they’re using.
It comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University.
What is a girl to do?
WAVE C. Reed arrives at the Acorn Training Detachment, Port Hueneme, California, with her wardrobe but no place to store it. And it looks like sh’es not alone – look at all those suitcases surrounding her!
The 1943 photograph comes from the National Archives.
Did you that WAVES had a horsey set? These women are members of the Acorn Training Detachment at Port Heuneme (Point Magu, California), taking advantage of a day off to go for a ride on a sunny fall day.
The 1943 photograph comes from the National Archives.
WAVES at the Hunter College boot camp get a chance to try out the Link Instructor first hand, c. 1943. The machine was used to train pilots during World War II. In this photo, you see a WAVE in the cockpit holding a mic, and in the background a second WAVE giving her “instructions” from the controller desk.
The photograph comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
An close-up shot of the “plane” used as part of Link training, on display for WAVES boots at the Hunter College boot camp in the Bronx, c. 1943. The “plane” sat on a pedestal and helped pilots learn the techniques of flight.
The photograph comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
WAVES at the Hunter College boot camp see the controller of a Link Instructor up close. The machine was used for pilot training, and the instructor would sit at this control panel manipulating the “plane” port of the device to simulate flight.
The photograph comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Hinges of History 