21 Jul 2025 at 1:28 PM
Edited on 21 Jul 2025 at 1:42 PM by SPC J.Erickson
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service or WAVES, was part of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. Established by Congress in July 1942, it authorized the US Navy to accept women into the Naval Reserve as commissioned officers or enlisted personnel.
Over 100,000 women served in the WAVES over the course of World War II and they performed a variety of jobs. Those jobs included everything from clerical work and storekeeping to weather forecasting and navigation to hospital work to engineering. They were crucial to the war effort as they freed up the male personnel for combat duties and proving that mixed-gender forces could work together and be successful. At the end of the war they were demobilized but, in 1948 the Women's Armed Services Integration Act began to let women serve again in the United States Army and the Navy on a permanent basis.
The WAVES were not considered an auxiliary but were comparable to male members of the reserve. They were the first women to be commissioned as officers
in the U.S. Navy and paved the way for future generations of women in military roles.
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service or WAVES, was part of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. Established by Congress in July 1942, it authorized the US Navy to accept women into the Naval Reserve as commissioned officers or enlisted personnel.
Over 100,000 women served in the WAVES over the course of World War II and they performed a variety of jobs. Those jobs included everything from clerical work and storekeeping to weather forecasting and navigation to hospital work to engineering. They were crucial to the war effort as they freed up the male personnel for combat duties and proving that mixed-gender forces could work together and be successful. At the end of the war they were demobilized but, in 1948 the Women's Armed Services Integration Act began to let women serve again in the United States Army and the Navy on a permanent basis.
The WAVES were not considered an auxiliary but were comparable to male members of the reserve. They were the first women to be commissioned as officers
in the U.S. Navy and paved the way for future generations of women in military roles.