In honor of Memorial Day, the La Guardia and Wagner Archives takes a look at the active role women have played in the military with a newsreel footage of the WAVES. Established by an Act of Congress in 1942, the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Naval Reserve (WAVES) enlisted more than 100,000 women during World War II. First established at the Iowa State Teacher’s College, the naval training school moved to Hunter College in the Bronx (now Lehman College) in February 1943. Women learned the fundamentals of navy life, but were initially restricted to service within the continental U.S., where they also supplemented the male labor force that was diminished due to military service overseas.
The newsreel film footage shows the WAVES working in Iowa and on the campus of Hunter College in the Bronx. Follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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