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1862
In 1862, Sisters of the Holy Cross served aboard USS Red Rover, the Navy’s first hospital ship, joining a crew of 12 officers, 35 enlisted, and others supporting medical care. Red Rover remained the only hospital ship in the Navy until the Spanish-American War. |
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13 May 1908
Congress established the Navy Nurse Corps on 13 May 1908; The Surgeon General selected Esther Voorhees Hasson as the Superintendent because of her extensive experience as an Army contract nurse aboard hospital ship, USS Relief during the Spanish American War.
"The Sacred Twenty"
Appointed in 1908, group photograph of the first twenty Navy Nurses. Taken at the Naval Hospital, Washington, D.C., circa October 1908.
They are identified in Photo # NH 52960 (Complete Caption). |
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17 March 1917
Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels announced that the Navy will enlist females on 17 March 1917; Most of the 11,000 female yeoman worked in the nation’s capital filling a variety of jobs including draftsman, interpreters, couriers and translators. Late in the War I, the Navy enlisted 24 African American women who worked in the Navy Department building. Fifty-seven Yeoman (f.) and two woman marines died from the 1918 Influenza.
Yeoman First Class (F) Joy Bright, USNRF
Photographed in February 1918, while serving tn the Office of the Naval Superintendent of Construction, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey.
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1918
Three hundred-seven women enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War I. Like the Yeoman (f.), they were limited to the enlisted ranks, participated in parades and the majority of them served in Washington, D.C. working as accountants, paymaster, recruiters, and stenographers. Navy nurses treated patients in hospitals within the U.S., overseas, and on hospital ships during WWI.
Yeoman-F Uniform, US Naval Reserve Force 1918
Summer Uniform Blue consists of a Navy blue "Norfolk" style jacket and skirt. Black straw boater with US Navy hat ribbon. Jacket has World War I Victory medal ribbon. Uniform would also have included a white shirt with closed collar and tie or open collar with black neckerchief, white gloves , black hose, and black shoes.
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30 July 1942
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Public Law 689 creating the Navy’s women reserve program on 30 July 1942.
3 August 1942
Lieutenant Commander Mildred H. McAfee, USNR, Director of the WAVES (Navy’s first female Line Officer (3 August 1942).
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Midred McAfee |
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December 1944
Congratulate each other after being commissioned as the first African-American "WAVES" officers, December 1944.
They were members of the final graduating class of the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School (WR) at Northampton, Massachusetts.
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First Female Officers - African-Americans |
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23 December 1944
Public Law 238 granted full military rank to members of the Navy Nurse Corps. Thus, Sue Dauser, the Director of the Navy Nurse Corps, received a full commission in the rank of Captain. Thus, Dauser became the first female in that rank.
Harriet Ida Pickens and Frances Elizabeth Wills became the first African American female officers in the Navy on 23 December 1944 |
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1941 to 1945
Over 11,000 Navy nurses served at naval shore commands, on hospital ships, at field hospitals, in airplanes and on 12 hospital ships. LT Ann Bernatitus, NC, escaped from the Philippines just before the Japanese invaded; she later became the first recipient of the Legion of Merit award. Eleven Navy Nurses were POWs in the Philippines from 1941 to 1945; they received the Bronze Star for their heroism. |
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30 July 1948
Women’s Armed Forces Integration Act, 30 July 1948 allowed women to serve in the peace time military with some restrictions |
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1948
Edna Young-1st black enlisted female to serve in the regular Navy in 1948; retired as a Chief. Annie Neal Graham-1st black female to enlist in the United States Marine Corps on 8 September 1949 |
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