WAVES Fact Sheet

• WAVES is an acronym for Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service.
• With the beginning of World War II, a large number of men were needed to fight against the Axis powers. To allow more men in the Navy to fight in the war, women were allowed to take over non-combatant roles for the first time in history.
• The WAVES served in many capacities, but mainly as secretaries.
• The WAVES were founded in 1942 and by the end of the war over 80,000 women had served.
• To join the WAVES, you had to be between the ages of 20 and 36, be at least 5 feet and 95 pounds, have good teeth, hearing and eyesight, and have graduated high school.
• The WAVES had 18 weeks of school in total. First, they had six weeks of indoctrination in New York City where they learned how to drill and adjusted to navy life. After the initial six weeks, the women were sent to one of three training centers in the U.S. where they completed 12 weeks of specialized training.
• When the WAVES had finished their training, they were sent to a Naval base where they worked until the war was over.
• After working, the WAVES had plenty of fun! They made friends, went to see shows, played games, and went on dates.
• Oklahoma State University, then known as Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College, trained 10,700 WAVES during World War II.

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