Tag Archives: women’s history

Protecting Each Other

Josette Dermody (second from right in this photo) remembers the gruff-with-a-heart-of-gold Chief who commanded her group of WAVES and sailors.

He was a great big guy, regal guy. He probably would have been retired but he came back for the war. He was wonderful to us.  He had one rule: the sailors shouldn’t use bad language around ladies. So we had this thing because the sailors would swear. The chief would say, “No bad language!  We’re going to take your names!”  We had devised a face for “the man,” you know? And we’d put on our innocent faces and we’d say, “Bad language? Bad language? Did you hear anything???”  (laughs)  We didn’t want the guys to go on report for something stupid like that.

This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Chutzpah

We weren’t that different from our brothers. Working class kids mostly, you know. A certain amount of American chutzpah and the cockiness. You could tell the sailors from the Marines. And you could tell – as recruits — and you could tell them from the Army.  Because even though the services sorted people out, the personalities sorted in the way — and the sailors are much larkier. I remember when they brought a whole bunch of refugees from somewhere and they had this great big banner up.  Not “mission accomplished” it said, “If we had known you were coming, we’d have baked a cake” (laughs).  I mean, that’s one of the things I love about the Navy.

-Josette Dermody, World War II WAVE

This photograph shows Josette Dermody (at far left) in the wedding party for a fellow WAVE to a sailor. It comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

12th Naval District

The Navy divided up the country into various Naval Districts, or administrative hubs. Josette Dermody was stationed in the 12th Naval District, which was headquartered in San Francisco and included Colorado; Utah; Nevada except Clark County); northern part of California (basically north of tSan Luis Obispo, Kings, Tulare, and Inyo counties).

This is a copy of the WAVES newsletter for the District 12. The cover is especially striking – an art deco-style image incorporating a WAVE and what appears to be a stylized ship. It comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Gunner’s Mate

After boot camp, Josette Dermody was tapped to become a Gunner’s Mate.  She would be training men to shoot at moving targets.

We went to gunnery school because they said we had to be able to face down the sailors.  “We don’t need girls who’ve never even fired a shot.” So they, you know, being in the gunnery thing was hard work. It was hard work because the guns were so big. You had to break them down and put the back together again and all that. They were always laughing.  “It takes two of you to carry what one guy can carry!”

This is the cover of her memoir about her experience as a WAVE. You can buy the book here. It’s a great read!

Something Nautical

I grew up in Detroit.  And Detroit is on the river. There are a lot of boats and a lot of ships. We were Depression kids, but various people had uncles who had boats and they would take you sailing and stuff. I read every book about sailing there was. Sea Here, Mr. Boditch and All Sails Set and all that stuff. It seems if I was going to be doing something adventurous, it might as well be something with the sea.  I still love being by the water.

– Josette Dermody, World War II WAVE

This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

The “Campaign”

You had to be 20 to go in.  Your brothers could go in at 18.  And so I had a lot of friends that spent their 19th year trying to persuade the old man to sign for you. “What about Rosie O’Donnell’s father letting her join the Marines and you don’t mean to say the O’DConnells have more moxie than the Demodys!”  It was a campaign.

-Josette Dermody, World War II WAVE

This photo from the WAVES Hunter College boot camp shows Josette Dermody at front lower right (with her head turned). It comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.

Meet Josette Dermody

Josette Dermody was born in Detroit, Michigan. She grew up in a Catholic family, attended parochial school and really really didn’t want the future she thought was mapped out for her:

I was supposed to go to the Convent.  The nuns had me. They were zeroed in on me and I didn’t want to. Becoming a nurse, becoming a teacher, working in an office or a nun and that, that was about it.  And of course getting married and having twelve kids.

So first chance she got, she enlisted in the WAVES.  This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.