The WAVES, or Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, were the women’s branch of the United States Navy during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, and the first woman to enter the Navy Women’s Reserve was Mildred H. McAfee (the director of the branch), on August 3, 1942.
Their name expresses both the idea that they enlisted voluntarily (they were not drafted, contrary to men at that time), and that they could only serve for the duration of the emergency. Their mission was to free men employed in shore stations for sea duty.
Most WAVES were white American women, but Japanese-American and African-American women also enlisted (the latter in 1944 and 1945, when the ban against African-American women in the Navy was lifted).
During the war, officer and enlisted WAVES were employed in jobs typically reserved for women, but some also worked in jobs usually reserved for men, notably in the aviation domain.
They were trained at different shore stations within the continental United States, with notable ones being Hunter College in New York (for enlisted women) and the United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School in Northampton, Massachusetts (for officers).
Most WAVES served stateside, because when the branch was created, it was decreed that they couldn’t serve on ships or outside the country (this included the Territory of Hawaii and Alaska). However, at the end of 1944, that law was amended so that WAVES could serve in Hawaii and Alaska.
Almost all WAVES were demobilized (discharged, relieved from active duty…) by the end of 1946, but a small portion voluntarily decided to remain in active service.
WWII WAVES 