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WAVES
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WAVES recruiting poster A WAVES machinist's mate at Naval Air Station Jacksonville A WAVES parachute rigger at Naval Air Station Ottumwa WAVES mechanics
Who was the first Asian American woman in the U.S. Navy?
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WAVES recruiting poster
WAVES recruiting poster A 1943 recruiting poster for the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) unit of the U.S. Navy.

WAVES

United States naval organization
Also known as: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service(Show More)
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

WAVES, military unit, established on July 30, 1942, as the U.S. Navy’s corps of female members. During World War II some 100,000 WAVES served in a wide variety of capacities, ranging from performing essential clerical duties to serving as instructors for male pilots-in-training. Initially, they did not serve overseas. Several thousand WAVES also participated in the Korean War. The corps continued its separate existence until 1978. The navy’s policies toward women were in some ways...

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