The insignia patch sewn onto the upper left sleeve of the service coat indicates Boyd’s rank of Petty Officer First Class Storekeeper (SK1). This WAVES uniform was worn by Cecile Boyd. She and her husband later settled in Petal, Mississippi. Following the war, Boyd married Walter James “Pado” Bennett, also a US Navy veteran. As a storekeeper, her duties would have included maintaining a supply store. Boyd served as a Petty Officer First Class Storekeeper (SK1) during her service in the WAVES, including at Naval Air Station 29 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The peak strength of the WAVES was 86,291 members.Ī native of East Liverpool, Ohio, Cecile Irene Boyd (1921-2011) enlisted in the WAVES and was sworn in on November 13, 1942, at age 21. WAVES served at 900 shore stations in the United States in jobs from administrative and clerical to parachute riggers and non-combat aviation crew members. The new female recruits had full military status as reservists in the US Naval Reserve. With the World War II, women were once again recruited, this time with the establishment of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in 1942. The collection documents her years as a WAVES officer during World War II, her role in organizing later reunions of the WAVES, and her service in the USNR from 1948 to 1968.The US Navy first enlisted the help of women for support duties in the World War I. This collection includes correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, printed material, radio scripts, photographs, Naval Reserve recruiting brochures, and issues of The Havelock and Scuttlebutt. During her naval service, Barton rose in rank from an Ensign to a Commander. Naval Reserve until 1968, where she trained women recruits and oversaw public relations in the Albany, New York, area. She was editor of two newsletters for WAVES personnel, The Havelock and Scuttlebutt, and in 1947 initiated the first reunion of WAVES personnel. She was stationed in Washington, D.C., where she coordinated housing for WAVES officers and oversaw public relations for the Potomac River Naval Command and the U.S. Jane Barton attended officer training for the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) at Mount Holyoke College.

Navy ranks for the waves in world war 2