Everything about Waves totally explained
» For other meanings, see Wave (disambiguation).
The
WAVES were a
World War II-era division of the
U.S. Navy that consisted entirely of women. The name of this group is an acronym for "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" (as well as an allusion to
ocean waves); the word "emergency" implied that the acceptance of women was due to the unusual circumstances of the war and that at the end of the war the women wouldn't be allowed to continue in Navy careers.
The WAVES began in August 1942, when
Mildred H. McAfee was sworn in as a Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander, the first female
commissioned officer in U.S. Navy history, and the first director of the WAVES. This occurred two months after the WACS (
Women's Army Corps) was established and
Eleanor Roosevelt convinced Congress to authorize a women's component of the Navy- the WAVES. Within a year the WAVES were 27,000 strong. A large proportion of the WAVES did clerical work but some took positions in the aviation community,
Judge Advocate General's Corps, medical professions, communications, intelligence,
storekeeper, science and technology.
The WAVES didn't accept
African-American women into the division until late 1944, at which point they trained one black woman for every 36 white women enlisted in the WAVES.
With the passage of the
Women's Armed Services Integration Act (Public Law 625) on June 12, 1948, women gained permanent status in the armed services. Although the WAVES officially ceased to exist, the acronym was in common use well into the 1970s. The first six enlisted women to be sworn into the regular Navy on July 7, 1948 were Kay Langdon, Wilma Marchal, Edna Young, Frances Devaney, Doris Robertson and Ruth Flora. On October 15, 1948, the first eight women to be commissioned in the regular Navy,
Joy Bright Hancock,
Winifred Quick Collins, Ann King, Frances Willoughby, Ellen Ford, Doris Cranmore, Doris Defenderfer, and Betty Rae Tennant took their oaths as Naval officers.
List of Directors
The director held the position of Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Women during the years of 1942-1972. In 1972, the office was disestablished in favor of integration of women into the main force. There still remained, however, the office of
Bureau of Personnel, Special Assistant for Women's Policy
(PERS-00W), which existed until 1991.
WAVES song
The WAVES kept the homefront affairs of the US Navy going while the men were assigned to ships serving around the globe. While the official song of the US Navy men was
Anchors Aweigh, the WAVES official song was sung in counterpoint to the men:
» :
WAVES of the Navy
» WAVES of the Navy,
There's a ship sailing down the bay.
» And she won't slip into port again
Until that Victory Day.
» Carry on for that gallant ship
And for every hero brave
» Who will find ashore, his man-sized chore
Was done by a Navy WAVE.
Music and words to this and other songs sung by the WAVES can be found in
Marching to Victory, a 1943 booklet published at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School (WR), Northampton, Massachusetts.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Waves'.
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