Last updated: November 30, 2023
Article
WAVES (United States Naval Women's Reserve)
![Harriet Pickens and Frances Wills, first Black WAVES to be commissioned. Two African American women in military uniforms smile while bending over a suitcase with bunk beds in the background.](/articles/000/images/waves-pickens-wills.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false)
Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, 520670.
During World War II, the United States Navy created a branch of the Naval Reserve to enlist women, known as the WAVES (an acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). Approximately 100,000 women served in the WAVES over the course of the war. They performed a variety of jobs, from clerical work and storekeeping, to weather forecasting and navigation, to hospital work, to engineering.
After the end of the war, the WAVES demobilized. However, the 1948 Women's Armed Services Integration Act permitted women to serve in the Army and Navy on a permanent, regular basis.
This page collects information about the parks, historic places, people, and stories connected to the history of the WAVES.
![East Asian woman smiles at camera while holding a model airplane](/common/uploads/grid_builder/articles/crop16_9/7E1425CE-B06D-9BD2-5311261CB88FF53B.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
Dr. Margaret "Mom" Chung, the first Chinese American woman to become a physician, was essential to the creation of the Navy WAVES program.
![Illustrated image of a middle aged woman and a younger woman in military uniform](/common/uploads/grid_builder/articles/crop16_9/7E2591DC-995F-35E1-BD48B9EB24B5A51A.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
Navy pilots, including WAVES, trained at sites within the boundaries of what is now Canaveral National Seashore.
![Group photo of several women in uniform smiling up at the camera](/common/uploads/grid_builder/articles/crop16_9/7F206AAF-C6FF-F57D-5C664DFF4FF5F7A7.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
This lesson explores the WWII effort through the experiences of 3 women who served in the WAVES at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY.
![A woman in military uniform speaks into a mic while looking out a large glass window at an airfield](/common/uploads/grid_builder/articles/crop16_9/7F8AB6FC-97C1-8DAE-7AA577BC80FCCC01.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
This lesson plan investigates the history of Floyd Bennett Field, the home of naval aviation in Brooklyn, NY during WWII.