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Foreword. 186

On 30 July 1972 the WAVES will have been a part of the U.S. Navy for thirty years. During that time they have served in shore stations across the United States and around the world, at sea and in the air, and have established standards for performance of duty and devotion to the service that might well be envied by other organizations with more years but fewer outstanding achievements to their credit.

Thirty years ago, when the subject of women in the Navy disturbed the traditional dignity of the Navy Department, there was, perhaps, in some quarters, as much consternation as if it had been proposed to convert battleship quarterdecks to truck gardens. Nevertheless, despite all the fears and doubts, the ladies by the thousands donned uniforms and pitched in to help win a war. It is interesting to note that, thirty years later, the Navy has found it expedient to get rid of the battleships but finds it cannot get along without the WAVES.

In 1941 and 1942, there were few people in the Navy who remembered that in World War I the Navy had enlisted 10,000 women, then known as yeomen (F). One of these, Joy Bright Hancock, subsequently served for many years as a civilian employee of the Bureau of Aeronautics, where I was then Director of Training. That Bureau contended that, as women were then working in aircraft factories as civilians, they could equally well serve the Navy in any capacities connected with naval aviation. Joy Bright Hancock visited the Royal Canadian Air Force to find out how they utilized the services of women, and with her help and that of Rear Admiral John Towers, Commander Ralph A. Ofstie, and others, we presented the Bureau of Navigation with a plan on how to train and employ women in the Navy.

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