DURING ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIMES IN OUR HISTORY, WOMEN DRESSED IN CRISP, BLUE UNIFORMS COULD BE SEEN WALKING THRU CITY STREETS LIKE THE WAVES OF THE OCEAN. And, Waves were exactly what these women were!! Navy Waves was the official title of the Womens Branch of The United States Naval Reserve. W A V E S stood for Women Accepted For Voluntary Emergency Service. When the United States entered World War Ii in 1942, the need for more troops was evident. Congress was presented with the idea of enlisting young women of a certain age to perform some of the jobs that kept the enlisted men from being sent overseas to fight.As a result, the WAVE program was established by Congress in July of 1942. Women turned out in droves to sign up. Their motives were many: patriotism, family tradition, boredom on the homefront. However, most of these women cited the eligibility for the .G.I. Bill as being the reason. Ruth Bufkins Stevens, of Boonville, says that she had already finished Junior College in St. Petersburg, Florida after having graduated from Boonville High School in 1943. She figured out she could go back to college on the .I. Bill. In 1945, when she was 20 years old, she gained her fathers permission to join up. She was immediately assigned to assist the Naval Medical Corps as a Pharmacists Mate. Stationed in California for 3 years, she also worked as a Surgical Aide. Sent to Oceanside, she cared for Veterans before and after their surgeries. She was then transferred to another naval hospital in Corona where she helped to take care of the wives and children of Navy & Army personnell. She also worked some in pediatrics and in the maternity ward. Finally, she was given a desk job at the Admissions Office in San Diego. In addition to her clerical duties during the day, she was also required to work what was called The Port Starboard Duty. This meant that she was on call at night in case of an emergency. She received The good Conduct Medal when she left the Waves in 1948. Many of her comrades and friends returned to their hometowns. However, she did not return to Boonville, but got married to a hometowns, she got married instead, to a military officer she met during the war. For a period of about 7 years, they lived abroad, including 3 years in Turkey. Whens she did come back to Boonville, she met and married a widower, Dick Stevens.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 22:42:45 +0000
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