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Women of humboldt county who served during wwii

WAAC/WAC
Joyce Abott
Helen Apperson
Dorothy E. Semple
Germaine De Haes
Nina Jackson
Della Lewis 
Ethal Noga

ARMY NURSE CORP.
Agnes Crowley
Violet Benneck 
Mary Francis Crowley 
Helen French 
Clarice Johnson
Addie Newland 
Marrgaret A. Peterson
Vivian R. Pine 

WAVES
Bonnie Lee Brown

MARINES
Muriel P. Clarke

NAVY
Margaret Mary Harris
Picture
PictureMary Vencil Curnutte Mahler, a member of WAVES
WAVES:  Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.
WAVES was the women's branch of US Naval Reserve. It was established on July 30, 1942 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt  and authorized the Navy Reserve to accept women as commissioned officers  and enlisted ranks through the war and 6 months after the war's official end.  The idea was to place women into onshore Navy work so men could go to sea to fight in the war. At its peak, WAVES had   86,291 members.

PictureCandy Olson, a recruiter for the WAC. She married Galen Russel Olsen, a third generation Humboldter who was born in 1922 to pioneers Oscar and Marie Bush Olsen. He enlisted in the Navy during WWII. They established Olsen's Heating and Sheetmetal in Eureka. Galen was a board member of the North Coast Vintage Aviation Society.
WAAC: Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.  WAAC was created by Public Law 554 on May 15, 1942 following closely after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  WAAC was established "for the purpose of making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of women of the nation." After being established, WAAC created 400 jobs for women within a year.  Jobs included work as bakers,  clerics, drivers, and medical professionals. As interest waned due to better paying jobs outside of the Army and Army attitudes towards women,  WAAC converted to active duty statuse under the Army as WAC on July 1, 1943. The conversion would allow women to help in the war effort overseas through the Army rather than being an auxiliary unit in the United States military and gain the rights of enlisted men.

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Sunday 11-4
Call for hours as they can change due to staffing.
240 E Street
Eureka, CA
​95501

Telephone

707 443 1947

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  • Home
    • Veterans KIA/MIA
    • Women Veterans during WWII
    • War in Humboldt County >
      • War Comes to Humboldt
      • Attack on the S.S. Emidio
      • Civil Defense
      • Naval Air Auxiliary Station
      • Chicago Bridge & Iron
      • LTA Base
      • Klamath Radar Station
      • U.S. Coast Guard
      • Naval Section Base
      • Big Lagoon 12th Naval District Target
      • Italian-American Restriction
    • Honor Flight Portraits