During WWII, many women answered the call of military service through enlistment into the WAVES. Marjorie Pollard was one of those women, and — despite widespread stigma about homosexuals in military service during the 1940s and 1950s— she may have also been part of the LGBTQ+ community.

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we recognize Lt. Susan Ahn Cuddy, the first Asian American woman to join the Navy’s WAVES during WWII, breaking barriers while serving her country in a time of war.

Katharine Cornell was a leading lady in American theater; eventually she led the charge for New York’s American Theatre Wing to perform Broadway shows for troops stationed in Italy during World War II.

November is Native American Heritage Month! Today we’d like to celebrate that by honoring two Navajo sisters who served at the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation (HRPE) during WWII.

In early 2019, an East Carolina University student, Jacquelyn Hewett, studied one of the figureheads in our Collection for her American Maritime Material Culture history class. The information she uncovered was enlightening and indicated that a change in the attribution of ship name was in order. While confirming her research, I uncovered the story of a wonderfully awesome woman I thought I would share with you!

WAVES fulfilled various positions and worked at Naval bases across the US, ranging from yeoman to chauffeur, baker to pharmacist, and artist to aircraft mechanic. Most WAVES worked in naval aviation units–maintaining aircraft, testing parachutes, and working as domestic air traffic controllers or weather specialists.

While the military at this time was officially against allowing LGBTQ+ identifying people into the military, they also were desperate for more service members. So in some ways, there was a similar mentality to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of the 1990s and 2000s.

While the Women’s Army Corps was founded on May 15, 1942 (then the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) they did not recruit women living in Hawaii until October of 1944. This was because Hawaii was technically still a territory, and did not become a state until 1959.

A square painting filled to bursting with spectacular color and energy hangs on a rack in painting storage. Every time I pass this rack, it catches my eye and I say to myself “I need to wait on this one”. But these pieces have a special way of working themselves into my head and so on a gloomy late winter day I decided it was time.