Rosamond D. Selle joined the Navy’s Women’s Reserve in September 1942 and was commissioned as one of the early WAVES officers. She was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in October 1943 and to Lieutenant Commander in October 1945. She remained in the Naval Reserve until at least 1949.
Shirley Feldstein enlisted in the WAVES at Portland, Oregon, in September 1942. She received training at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Norman, Oklahoma, during the first part of 1943 and was a member of the initial group of WAVES to become Aviation Metalsmiths. Later, she served in that rate at Naval Air Station, Seattle (Sand Point), Washington.
Mabel Nora Croft enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in September 1918. She served during and after the First World War with two other Yeomen (F) who had joined the Navy with her, Cora Dell Croft and Frances Gormley, at the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, D.C.
In February 1946, Commander Hancock became the Assistant Director (Plans) of the Women’s Reserve and was promoted to WAVES’ Director, with the rank of Captain, in July of that year. She guided the WAVES through the difficult years of Naval contraction in the later 1940s and the expansion of the early 1950s, a period that also saw the Navy’s women achieve status as part of the Regular Navy.
She became a Navy Nurse in September 1917, subseqently serving with Naval Base Hospital Number 3 in the U.S. and in Scotland during World War I, holding the grade of Chief Nurse for most of that period. Following the war, she was placed in charge of nursing activities at the U.S. Naval Hospital at San Diego, California.
Nellie Locust was one of a few Native American women to join the SPARS. Her service during World War II is an example of Native American servicemembers’ commitment to both tribal pride and American patriotism.
Commander Bernice “Burma” Nordstrom forged a path ahead for women in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy.
The first woman and first African-American in multiple Navy positions, including the first female Command Master Chief of an aircraft carrier and the first female Command Master Chief for recruit training.
Captain Rosemary Mariner was a pioneer female naval aviator.
She served as a Yeoman (F) in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force during the World War I era. At the beginning of January 1919, while assigned to the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, she was promoted from Yeoman Second Class to Yeoman First Class. After leaving active duty in 1919 she was employed by the Navy Department, later shifting to the U.S. Marine Corps, and worked for the Marines until retiring from U.S. Government service in the later 1940s or early 1950s.