WWII - Women at War | Alumni Association

WWII - Women at War

Published: Dec. 1, 2011 • By Clay Evans

woman on airplane black and white How did World War II fuel a surge in opportunities for women?

When Tom Brokaw wrote his paean to the Greatest Generation, he left them out. Filmmaker Ken Burns skipped them when he documented聽The War.

They are the estimated 100,000 women who joined the military during World War II. The Navy Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), their Coast Guard counterparts, the SPARS, and the Women鈥檚 Army Corps (WAC) provided critical support to the American war effort.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really a shame,鈥� says Margaret Thorngate, 88, who served as a WAVES yeoman, or secretary, in San Francisco. 鈥淣obody under the age of 60 has even heard of the WAVES.鈥�

But CU journalism associate professor Kathleen Ryan hopes to ensure the women鈥檚 contributions are never forgotten with her documentary and multi-platform media project,聽Homefront Heroines.

鈥淧art of the appeal of the story is that it鈥檚 a largely untold history,鈥� says Ryan, who joined the CU-麻豆影院 faculty in 2010. 鈥淭hey really have not received the recognition they deserve.鈥�

Ryan, whose mother served in the WAVES, spent 20 years working in television before going to graduate school at the University of Oregon. There, she decided that the Navy women would make the perfect subject for her dissertation.

The documentary is based on interviews with 52 WAVES and SPARS she did for her doctoral project, focusing on three women, including Thorngate. The film also makes use of five rolls of 16-millimeter film of female vets that have 鈥渘ever seen the light of day.鈥�

Last summer Thorngate, who helped paint the聽USS Missouri聽during the war, visited the venerable battleship in Hawaii with Ryan for the documentary.

鈥淲hen people aboard the聽Missouri聽heard I was a World War II vet, they were all very interested,鈥� Thorngate says. 鈥淭hey start realizing that this is a generation that is passing by.鈥�

The film is currently in post production. Ryan plans on pitching it to public television, cable channels and film festivals when it鈥檚 completed.

But she鈥檚 also pushing the story out on newer media platforms with the help of intern聽Laura Hampton, a 22-year-old CU journalism student. Besides leveraging such 鈥渙ld school鈥� media as Facebook and Twitter, Hampton is using a 鈥済eotagging鈥� smart phone application to 鈥渢ag鈥� physical locations with stories, photos and videos related to WAVES history.

鈥淜athleen is sharing a part of history that a lot of people don鈥檛 know,鈥� Hampton says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really cool being a girl and seeing these women take that role, which was really unheard of at the time.鈥�

The WAVES program began in 1942. The strictly male hierarchy imagined the 鈥済als鈥� could handle a few basic but crucial tasks 鈥� secretarial work, storekeeping, decoding messages.

But it didn鈥檛 take long, Ryan says, for women to move into other, more critical roles. They got into weather forecasting and helped repair planes. They trained pilots and served as gunners鈥� mates teaching seamen how to shoot moving targets from moving vehicles.

Many of the WAVES, especially those in instructional positions, had been teachers before the war.

鈥淓arly on, men were skeptical, but very quickly it became evident that women were more successful in training competent pilots than men,鈥� Ryan says. 鈥淎nd so [men] pushed to be trained by women.鈥�

Virtually all male trainers, by contrast, had come up through the Navy without previous teaching experience. Simply put, many of the women were better teachers.

Becoming a WAVE was no easy task. While the Navy accepted most able-bodied men, women had to be at least 20 years old, have finished high school and spent time on the job or pursuing higher education. To become an officer, women had to have completed at least two years of college.

鈥淚nitially, a lot of the women who came through had gone to teachers鈥� colleges,鈥� Ryan says. 鈥淭hey had taught, they were a little older, they were good at this . . . This was their skill.鈥�

The pioneer WAVES also had to fight ugly prejudice. World War II marked the first time women were allowed in the military.

Ryan says men often resented their presence, as women entering the military were initially pitched as freeing men to fight overseas, but there was a perception that women were taking men鈥檚 jobs.

鈥淭herefore, there were lots of聽derogatory聽rumors out there saying that the only women who joined were聽either prostitutes or lesbians,鈥� Thorngate says.聽鈥淏ut after a year or two the women proved themselves to be able to do the job without any 鈥榠mmoral conduct.鈥� 鈥�

Ryan says the women she interviewed said they wanted to serve the country during a time of need, but that was far from their only motivation. Many joined because it was a steady job and an avenue for more education, although the G.I. Bill did not pass until 1944.

And then there were the uniforms. Designed by the famous French-American fashion designer Main Bocher, the Navy鈥檚 female togs were much coveted following the privation of the Depression years. With blue serge jackets and skirts in a classic cut, white or light blue blouses and a silky tie, the uniforms stood in stark contrast to the dowdy khaki outfits worn by women in the Women鈥檚 Army Corps, also known as WAC.

Ryan initially suspected the notion that women joined for the uniforms was a case of gross stereotyping. But she found all of her interview subjects 鈥渕entioned it 鈥� unsolicited 鈥� how gorgeous the uniforms were and how important that was.鈥�

Thorngate is pleased that Ryan鈥檚 work will preserve an important part of American history, especially as her generation dies.

鈥淜athleen has been very instrumental and helpful in really bringing us back to life,鈥� says Thorngate, who lives in Florence, Ore. 鈥淲e are not dead! There is something to be appreciated in what we did.鈥�

A snapshot of CU-麻豆影院 student soldiers today