Navy protocols in regard to WAVES

[Rumors of War]

Recently my mother passed away and as we were going through her papers, I came across her discharge from the WAVES in WW2. She had told me about being in the WAVES and we have her dress uniform with the white hat and blue brim along with the gray seersucker work uniform. In looking over her discharge as well as letters home to her parents several interesting items emerged. She enlisted in May of 1944 but was discharged January 3rd of 1945...Six months total service, however what she revealed in her letters interested us even more. She took her basic in the Bronx at Hunter College, then went to Stillwater Oklahoma where she met a student pilot or flight cadet. This was totally unknown to me or my brother and sister. Furthermore, she was able to follow him to Jacksonville Naval air station where they eloped in November having applied for a license a month earlier. In one of her letters, she tells her mother that she's head over heels with this guy who was born in Oklahoma then graduated from the university of California at Los Angeles. She told my grandmother that he was an ensign and that he was training to fly PB4-y's. She also complained about life in the south at that time, besides the heat, and bugs the southerners didn't care for "Yankees" and that they were still fighting the civil war. She also reported that she was assigned to a stores clerk in the aviation section, and that it was a very dull job. She also commented on witnessing four crashes of F4U's resulting in the death of the pilots. After all this, the information dries up, the letter detailing her love for this guy and their expected marriage was postmarked in December, however by that time she was already married. As I already indicated, she was discharged around the first part of January. I have some questions I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with;

1. How long did it take to process a discharge?

2. I'm assuming the fact that she and this guy eloped in the next county something we think the Navy found out about hence the early discharge. I have two REA shipping tags from this guy who was stationed at Hutchinson Kansas NAS.

3. I'm sure the navy could do without a lowly WAVE, but what would they have done to the ensign?

4.What was the protocol regarding officers marrying enlisted at the time?

 

Whatever happened their marriage didn't last, she filed for divorce in 1947 shortly before she married my father, the last we know of her first husband is a marriage certificate issued by the US foreign service in Calcutta India dated 1949 stating that this guy is marrying a British woman.

5.Not sure if this guy remained in the navy (what would he be doing in India in 1949?) or more likely working for an airline.

All in all, a rather interesting facet of my mother's past none of us kids were aware of.

[gwb123]

I am moving this to the Women's Services section, hopefully to get a better response.

[cutiger83]

According to “Dress for Duty” - “Unmarried WAVES were not allowed to marry until their training was finished, and then they were not allowed to marry a man who was in the Navy. Doing so resulted in resignation or discharge.”

 

What makes you think your mother was an officer? She mentions going off to basic training not OCS. Do you have a picture of her uniform and insignia? That would give us more information as to her rank and duties.

 

The WAVES were doing essential duty. I believe they (including your mother) would have been highly upset at being called a “lowly WAVE”. The enlistment protocol for a WAVE said they could not marry a man in the Navy but I don't know of any similar protocol for the men regarding marrying a WAVE. Therefore, nothing would have happened to him.

 

...Kat

[cutiger83]

One more thing the rank of ensign, which is pay grade O-1, is the lowest level of commissioned naval officer not an enlisted person.

 

....Kat

[Salvage Sailor]

An aside regarding Wartime romances......I have an ANC grouping in which the Nurse writes of her 'head over heels' lover George who is stationed with her in England. They were engaged to be married in October 1944 (with permission from the Army) As soon as he 'goes over to the continent' in July 1944, he dumps her. Many of her next letters are filled with vitriol and then relief that she didn't marry the dope before he went to France. Happened all too often during WWII.

[Rumors of War]

According to “Dress for Duty” - “Unmarried WAVES were not allowed to marry until their training was finished, and then they were not allowed to marry a man who was in the Navy. Doing so resulted in resignation or discharge.”

 

What makes you think your mother was an officer? She mentions going off to basic training not OCS. Do you have a picture of her uniform and insignia? That would give us more information as to her rank and duties.

 

The WAVES were doing essential duty. I believe they (including your mother) would have been highly upset at being called a “lowly WAVE”. The enlistment protocol for a WAVE said they could not marry a man in the Navy but I don't know of any similar protocol for the men regarding marrying a WAVE. Therefore, nothing would have happened to him.

 

...Kat

 

I never said my mother was an officer, sorry for the misunderstanding, she was discharged as a Seaman first class. I was pretty sure she was punished, since WAVES were "expendable" pilots were not.

[cutiger83]

 

I never said my mother was an officer, sorry for the misunderstanding, she was discharged as a Seaman first class. I was pretty sure she was punished, since WAVES were "expendable" pilots were not.

 

As I stated above, according to the enlistment rules she would have been discharged for marrying a man in the Navy. A WAVE could marry anyone outside of the Navy after her basic training but anyone in the Navy was forbidden.

[squidres]

Nice discussion of the personal side of the women in our Service. It is good to see the human side of history we study and the artifacts we collect

[cutiger83]

I would love to see a picture of your mother's items. I love to see anything dealing with women in the military.

 

...Kat