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Uniformed Women

All Service Women's WWII A recruitment poster seeking women for all service branches of World War II: Navy WAVEs, Army WACs, Coast Guard SPARs and Women Marines.

After a twenty-three-year absence, women returned to general Navy service in early August 1942, when Mildred 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, or "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service". In the decades since the last of the Yeomen (F) left active duty, only a relatively small corps of Navy Nurses represented their gender in the Naval service, and they had never had formal officer status. Now, the Navy was preparing to accept not just a large number of enlisted women, as it had done during World War I, but female Commissioned Officers to supervise them. It was a development of lasting significance, notwithstanding the WAVES' name, which indicated that they would only be around during the wartime "Emergency".

Establishing the WAVES was a lengthy effort. Inter-war changes in the Naval Reserve legislation specifically limited service to men, so new legislation was essential. Though far-sighted individuals in the Navy Department, and especially in the Bureau of Aeronautics, had long known that uniformed women would be a wartime necessity, general service opinion was decidedly negative until the crisis at hand. Even then, creative intrigue had to be used to get an authorization through The Congress. President Roosevelt signed it into law on 30 July 1942. The next few months saw the commissioning of Mildred McAfee, and several other prominent female educators and professionals, to guide the new organization.

Recruiting had to be undertaken (or at least managed, as the number of interested women was vast), training establishments set up, an administrative structure put in place and uniforms designed. The latter effort produced a classic design that still has many elements in use nearly six decades later. Difficulties were overcome with energy and indispensable good humor, and within a year 27,000 women wore the WAVES uniform.

These women served in a far wider range of occupations than had the Yeomen (F). While traditionally female secretarial and clerical jobs took an expected large portion, thousands of WAVES performed previously atypical duties in the aviation community, Judge Advocate General Corps, medical professions, communications, intelligence, science and technology. The wartime Navy's demand for them was intense as it struggled to defeat Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific. At the end of the conflict, there were well over 8,000 female officers and some ten times that many enlisted WAVES, about 2 ½ percent of the Navy's total strength. In some places WAVES constituted a majority of the uniformed Naval personnel. And many remained in uniform to help get the Navy into, and through, the post-war era.

The arrival of large numbers of women in the Naval service prompted significant changes in enlisted housing arrangements. Though some WAVES were quartered in traditional "open bay" structures, with dozens of personnel living together in large rooms, Women's Reserve leaders were successful in their efforts to change this standard to one of smaller two or four person accomodations. Similar enclosing was accomplished for washing and toilet facilities. The improved privacy greatly enhanced morale, and, as the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery had contended earlier, also reduced the spread of communicable diseases. With wartime experience proving their benefits, many of these changes were extended to male Sailors' housing during the postwar era.

In urban areas, such as New York City and heavily WAVES-populated Washington, D.C., Navy women were often quartered in existing hotels and apartment buildings, many with integral dining, recreation and other support facilities. Whatever the housing, the double-decked bunk bed was a ubiquitous feature. The Navy being a disciplined activity, there were also WAVES Masters at Arms in quarters to enforce standards of behavior, decor, tidiness and other elements of service life.

The thousands of WAVES, generally stationed a long way from home, were unlikely to be much interested in many traditional Sailors' liberty pursuits. A variety of more congenial leisure activities had to be created on their own initiative, or that of their superiors. In some locations, sightseeing, theater attendance and other "off base" entertainments were attractive options. In others, diversions had to be found close at hand. Base chapels were well-attended, with the WAVES' presence enhancing male turnout as well. Lounges were provided in quarters, providing opportunities for entertaining, games and other appropriate spare-time undertakings. Base recreational facilities were frequently expanded to accomodate women.

Civic-minded WAVES also found occasions to perform good works for the benefit of others. Navy hospitals, with a large population of convalescents, were a natural focus of welcome support. Wartime rural manpower shortages also presented opportunities to assist farmers at harvest time. In an organization containing large numbers of young, active men and women, certain social ventures came along rather naturally. After months of wavering, the Navy accepted the realities, and in early 1943 allowed WAVES to marry Navy men once they had completed their initial "boot" training.

On Nov. 23, 1942, legislation was approved creating yet another arm of the U.S. Coast Guard, one that would pave the way for Coast Guard women of today - The U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARs. Although the Coast Guard had done many jobs since 1790 without taking women into its enlisted or officer ranks, the onset of a world war changed the course of history for women in all the armed services. When World War II came, the Coast Guard and the other services found themselves in great need of more men at sea and more troops on foreign soil. They acknowledged that filling U.S. shore jobs with women would allow more men to serve elsewhere and hasten the war effort.

The SPARs were the answer to the Coast Guard's problem. These women were under military direction, and they were subject to assignment according to the needs of the service. This was one of the key factors in using women as part of the military force. The jobs they were filling could not have been done by civilians working for the armed forces because they were not as mobile and did not fall under military law and discipline.

The establishment of the SPARs also showed legislative recognition of a democratic woman's right to directly participate as members of the armed services in the joint war effort. Even their male counterparts thought highly of the SPARs. "Uncle Sam needs the SPARs or he'd never have them in uniform," said Coxswain Frank Bartlett. "They are a saving to the government. If they were civilian employees in civil service, they would be drawing high wages."

There were many reasons why these young women joined the SPARs. One of the main reasons enlisted SPARs joined was patriotism. They expressed a desire to be of more direct help in the war effort. Other reasons included a wish to relieve a man for active combat elsewhere, a chance for self improvement or advancement, an opportunity for travel, and a desire for excitement and adventure.

Although the SPARs were serving in a wide variety of jobs including the non-traditional loran field and they were meeting critical needs of the service, their time was not forever. The Women's Reserve was not established to be a permanent branch of the service, but was intended to be activated during the war and remain for six months afterward. This day finally came for the SPARs. They had reached the goal toward which they and millions of other service men and women had been working. World War II was over.

Following V-J day in August 1945, the demobilization effort began and SPARs were discharged gradually along with the reserve men. Known also as the big day, discharge day loomed in the distance for the SPARs. As that day arrived for each woman, there would be many things about the service the SPARs would miss - comradeship; the feeling of belonging; a few special friends who shared gripes, good times and clean shirts; and the tremendous thrill of being a part of the nation's military forces, Arthur said.

On June 30, 1946, the SPAR demobilization-completion day came and the 10,000 members of the Coast Guard Women's Reserve departed the service in the same spirit with which they entered - with patriotism for a country they loved and helped to defend, and faithfulness to their Coast Guard which they served with pride and dedication.

Women have been proving their strength as Marines since Opha Mae Johnson enlisted in 1913, but it wasn't until 1943 that the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was officially established. By the end of World War II, more than 20,000 women had served in the Marine Corps. While their predecessors did mainly clerical work, these Marines took on additional roles including parachute riggers, mechanics, mapmakers and welders. In 1948, women were officially integrated into all United States Armed Forces. Today, regardless of gender, every Marine serves proudly and capably in whatever capacity the Marine Corps requires.

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Our Mother's War Rosie the Riveter wasn't the only American woman contributing to the World War II effort; others were spies, nurses, entertainers, pilots, baseball players and politicians. Using the author's mother's diary and personal letters, this book shows how many of the conflicts that women struggle with today - such as work and family, pay inequities and sexual harassment - have their roots in women's experiences during World War II.

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