About the WAVES
The WAVES are some of the nations best, we support the men and make sure they bring us a swift victory. The opening of our new training base USS Hunter on February 1, 1943 will take on 37,500 WAVES (50% more than the original enlistment number)and begin training them to fill the mens jobs stateside. The Naval Department has raised the quota because “the highly successful replacement of men with women which has already taken place.” Each class at Hunter will be 2,500 and every week or so a new class will arrive, because the base can train a staggering 6,500 women at once. Watch the Navy Video below to learn about how we treat our Ladies of the Navy.
The WAVES
Formation:
Thanks to the Establisment of the Women's Reserve, Public Law 689, H.R. 6807, passed on July 30th, 1942, your can serve your country's Navy as a Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. The Womens Reserve was formed because your country needs you to free men for war.
"SEC. 501. A Women's Reserve is hereby established which shall be a branch of the Naval Reserve and shall be administered under the same provisions in all respects (except as may be necessary to adapt said provisions to the Women's Reserve, or as specifically provided herein) as those contained in this Act or which may hereafter be enacted with respect to the Volunteer Reserve.
"SEC. 505. Members of the Women's Reserve shall not be used to replace civil-service personnel employed in the Naval Establishment, but shall be composed of women trained and qualified for duty in the shore establishment of the Navy to release male officers and enlisted men of the naval service for duty at sea.
Purpose:
Our purpose is simple train women to work in various feild, from cleical innventory to fire arms instructors, so they can free men to serve in the War against Hitler. These men will fight and bring a swift end to the war.
Leadership:
This most prestigious organization, lead by Director Mildred Helen McAfee Horton. Director McAfee has a distinguished military service record, and was the 7th president of Wellesley College. McAfee was commissioned lieutenant commander the following week, on August 3rd, and quickly set down the enlistment rules and soon focused on equal pay for WAVES.
The Navy has also enlisted the assistace of Dr. Virginia C. Gildersleeve, dean of Barnard College and Professor Elizabeth Reynard, also of Barnard, become a special assistant to Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of Naval Personnel. Reynar, well known for the academic work, and her performance as Jacob's assistant silenced any fears the Navy may have had about women educators. Reynard then formed the Women's Advisory Council to meet with Navy officials and Gildersleeve became the chairperson.
The Women's Advisory Council:
-
Dr. Meta Glass of Sweet Briar College
-
Dr. Lillian Gilbreth, a national authority on efficiency in the workplace
-
Dr. Ada Comstock, President of Radcliffe College
-
Dean Alice Crocker Lloyd of the University of Michigan
-
Mrs. Malbone Graham, a noted lecturer from the West Coast
-
Marie Rogers Gates wife of Thomas Sovereign Gates, president of the University of Pennsylvania
-
Harriet Elliott, dean of women at the University of North Carolina
-
Dean Elliot later resigned and was replaced by Dr. Alice Baldwin, dean of women at Duke University.
Why Should You Enlist in the Ladies Navy
BETTER PAY:
WAVES are the most highly regarded of the Women Reserve and therefor ladies of the navy are paid the same as their male collegues. This $20/month could better support your family, as the navy is one of the only organizations with equal pay for men and women. Also, the jobs the Navy can provide you will allow you to see the world, support your family, and help you pay for future schooling.
PATRIOTISM
Enlist today so you can help our men defend the nation. WAVES are the solution the Facist War, as our women are by law only allowed to work stateside, so we enlist as many women as possible to free as many men as possible so this War will be an Allied Victory in the Pacific and in Europe.
BRING THEM HOME
Your family, freinds, neighbors and boyfriends are oversea fighting in the War, don’t you want them home as soon as possible? Of course you do, so enlist in the WAVES. Enlisting will allow you to take oven men’s stateside jobs, so we can send more men to overpower the Nazis and Japanese and bring a swift victory.
OTHERS ARE HELPING SO WHY NOT YOU
Women all across the nation are signing up to end the war, to bring their men home, to earn a higher wage, or just to fight for the glory of the United States, in any case they are doing their part for the War and so should you. Your freinds and family are joining together to end fasicism, you should do the same for your country because there is something everyone can do to support the effort so do what you can and become a WAVE.
Pouliot, Gabrielle. "The Oral History Project." Interview by Evelyn Charpak. Naval War College Archives. June 7, 1995. Accessed April 27, 2017. https://usnwcarchive.org/files/original/a5de7c144f1c25cbf0560c3f4bb097b0.pdf.
Nemitz, Doris. "The Oral History Project." Interview by Evelyn Charpak. Naval War College Archives. April 12, 1985. Accessed April 27, 2017. https://usnwcarchive.org/items/show/1200.
Smith, Edith. "History of the WAVES." Interview by Dr. Evelyn Cherpak. Naval War College Archives. May 23, 1995. Accessed November 4, 2016. https://usnwcarchive.org/files/original/428d6536fb2bbeb933b3eb844ab87f5a.pdf.
