Waves

A WAVES Photographer 3rd Class

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"; the word 'emergency' implied that the acceptance of women was due to the unusual circumstances of WWII and that at the end of the war the women would not 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, science and technology.

The WAVES did not 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.

Compare to Women Airforce Service Pilots, SPARS (the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve), and the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

WAVES recruitment poster

External links

[WAVES history and WWII women's uniforms in color] — WWII US women's service organizations (WAC, WAVES, ANC, NNC, USMCWR, PHS, SPARS, ARC and WASP)
[Department of the Navy - Naval Historical Center: World War II era WAVES]

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