Tag Archives: women’s history

In Quarantine

The trip to Hawaii didn’t always go smoothly.

We ported and we were all going on the same ship. This was really under tight orders because they were very careful about  us.  On the ship, which often happens when people are crowded together, it happens. A case of spinal meningitis broke out and we were quarantined for six weeks in Hawaii.

– Patricia Farrington Siegner, WAVE

This photo shows WAVES crowding an open hatch door even before their transport ship docks in Hawaii. It comes from the National Archives.

Heading to Hawaii

The first group of WAVES headed to Hawaii in January 1945. Doris Mansfield Leichliter was in the third group of WAVES to go overseas. They were the first to be based at Barber’s Point.

I wanted to see as much of the world as I could since I had never gone anyplace growing up anyplace because my dad would never go anyplace.  Once I got to New York and saw how much fun it was to travel, I just wanted to do all the traveling I could.  So I had decided that based on my parents, by the time I was — I didn’t want to get married and I figured I didn’t want to until I was past 30, because up to 30 I would see all the world I wanted to see.  That was my logic.  (laughs)

This photo shows WAVES embarking on the ship to head to Hawaii in January 1945. It comes from the National Archives.

Tropical Whites

WAVES heading to Hawaii would need uniforms fit for a more tropical environment. That meant the seersucker uniforms for work and tropical white uniforms for dress, instead of the every blues most women wore.

Here, WAVES are learning the protocol for wearing the white uniform, which most hadn’t had or needed before heading to Hawaii.  It dates from January 8, 1945, just before the women were scheduled to depart.

It comes from the National Archives.

Getting Picked

The post to Hawaii was very desirable for some. And not everyone was selected for overseas duty.

After I was in the service for six months, I could sign up for overseas.  My officer was Lt. Jerry Clays and he said, “Dottie, I know you have the time in, but I want a letter from your folks saying it’s OK to go overseas.”  He said, “I want a letter from your folks giving permission for you to go overseas.”  Well, by the time I got the letter back, and so forth, the war was over and so I never got to go overseas.

– Dorothy “Dottie” Anderson McDowll, WWII WAVE

This photograph shows WAVES leaving on their last stateside liberty before heading to Hawaii in January of 1945. It comes from the National Archives.

A Family Affair

Susan Ahn Cuddy’s two brothers, Phillip and Ralph, also joined the military.

I was Korean blood.  We were fighting the Japanese. I was American. I was very American, raised to love and honor America. There was actually no choice. I mean that was it. Why other women didn’t do it, I don’t know.

This is a photograph of Ahn and her brothers in uniform. It comes from the collection of Susan Ahn Cuddy and the Island Mountain Trading Co.

In Training

Susan Ahn Cuddy would be sent to Cedar Falls, Iowa for her training as a WAVE.

You stand out like a sore thumb for one thing ,and so you have to behave properly. But, everyone was very cordial to me and accepting and I don’t think I faced any uh, problems except that many of them didn’t see an Asian before in the Midwest like in Iowa.

After her initial training, Ahn became one of the first women selected at a Link Trainer Instructor.

This photograph comes from the collection of Susan Ahn Cuddy and the Island Mountain Trading Co.

The First Korean American WAVE

Education was important to the Ahn family. Susan Ahn Cuddy attended college in Southern California, and would be both a good student and an active athlete.

But even though she met the qualifications: a college graduate with some work experience, she was turned down by the recruiting officer when she first attempted to enlist as a WAVE officer in 1942.

As she said:

When the Navy program opened up for the women, I was gung-ho.  I was in San Diego and I came up to Los Angeles and tried to be part of it, but it was an officer’s training group and I didn’t make it. Well, I mean it was known that it was because I was Asian and not acceptable.

A woman who knew Ahn intervened, and she was later accepted as an enlisted WAVE.

This photograph is of Susan Ahn’s college field hockey team: she is in the front row, fourth from left.  It comes from the collection of Susan Ahn Cuddy and the Island Mountain Trading Co.