United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on July 30. This authorized the U.S. Navy to accept women into the Naval Reserve as commissioned officers and at the enlisted level, effective for the duration of the war plus six months. The purpose of the law was to release officers and men for sea duty and replace them with women in shore establishments. Mildred H. McAfee, on leave as president of Wellesley College, became the first director of the WAVES. She was commissioned a lieutenant commander on August 3, 1942, and later promoted to commander and then to captain.
Captain Mildred H. McAfee was the first director of the WAVES (1942–1945). The photo was taken in 1942 or 1943, when she was ranked lieutenant commander.
Representative Edith Nourse Rogers, of Massachusetts, is pictured in 1939 with other representatives.
Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy in 1940
Ada Comstock, President of Radcliffe College (1923–1943), a member of the Women's Advisory Council
Margaret Jessie Chung, born in Santa Barbara, California, was the first known American-born Chinese female physician. After graduating from the University of Southern California Medical School in 1916 and completing her internship and residency in Illinois, she established one of the first Western medical clinics in San Francisco's Chinatown in the early 1920s.
Dr. Chung with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning model and photos of some of her recruits
Signing the TBM "Mom Chung" on May 30, 2013