WAVES AND MARINES

(Top two images are from Florida State Archives; bottom image is from the Florida Collection,

Main Public Library, Jacksonville)

The female Marines in the top photos look quite pleased: They were receiving new uniforms at NAS Jax in 1953. 

The bottom postcard shows a quiet scene among a group of WAVES, sitting in front of their barracks at NAS Jax.  WAVES stood for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.  These ladies, all volunteers, were the Navy's female members.  The bottom postcard probably dates from the 1940s, maybe from World War II, the conflict during which the WAVES were born.  They officially came into existence in July 1942.

About 100,000 women were made WAVES.  They served in a variety of capacities, from performing essential clerical & administrative duties to providing flight instruction to male pilots-in-training.  At least one-third of the WAVES handled naval aviation duties.  Some WAVES tackled complex & precise operations like calculating bomb trajectories.  Others processed paperwork for such top secret projects as the D-Day Invasion of Normandy and the development of the atomic bomb.  No wonder the Navy tried to recruit college-educated women with backgrounds in math, science, and engineering.  For many WAVES, the war provided an opportunity to work at jobs usually open only to males.  Initially, however, WAVES did not serve overseas.

To some degree, the Navy proved quite progressive toward women.  Consider the Army's female branch, the WACs (Women's Auxiliary Corps).  Whereas the WACs were an auxiliary group, the WAVES were not.  Therefore, the WAVES were given a status comparable to that of male members of the reserve.  On the hand, the WACs were generally more open to the inclusion of African American females.

In 1948, the WAVES became a permanent component of the Navy.  They remained so until 1978, when the armed forces integrated women's units with formerly all-male units. 

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