Mary Ellen West Collection
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Mary Ellen West at work in office
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Storekeeper Third Class Mary Ellen West (right) sits at a typewriter while two other WAVES work at desks in their shared office at Whiting Field, Florida, in 1944. The women were assigned to a Pensacola housing project; through the window a construction worker can be seen.
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Mary Ellen West in uniform
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Mary Ellen West poses by a palm tree in Pensacola, Florida, wearing the WAVES all-purpose coat and soft-brimmed hat, in 1944.
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Oral history interview with Mary Ellen West
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Documents Mary Ellen West's time at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro); her service in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II; and her employment after the war. West discusses her immediate family, recalling her family's farming past and her mother and sister's education; attending the 1939 World Fair in New York; and summers spent earning money as a typist. She also describes her time at the Woman's College. Topics include Spencer and Mary Foust dormitories; the park; her professors; the difficulties of being a transfer student; and hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor. " West recalls her decision to become a WAVE in 1943 and discusses basic training at Hunter College, including the train ride to New York, drills, being quartered in apartments, and the uniform fitting. She also mentions her time at Whiting Field in Florida and living in the barracks there. Topics related to Officer Candidate School in Northampton, Massachusetts, include the trip there, her studies, the dorms, social life, and being a veteran in a school of new recruits. War-related topics conclude with discussion of West's time stationed in Washington, D.C, her living quarters there, attending cocktail parties and VE and V-J Day celebrations. " Post-war discussion focuses on West's employment with a contracting company. Broader discussion topics include the treatment of women in the service, the Roosevelt family, and the effect her military service had on her life.
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Portrait of Mary Ellen West
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Portrait of Mary Ellen West taken while she was attending Navy Storekeepers School at the University of Indiana in 1944.
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WAVES enlisted soft-brimmed hat
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WAVES enlisted soft-brimmed hat with blue cover and navy tally with "US Navy" in gold letters across the front. Worn with interchangeable navy, white, and seersucker covers. This hat worn by Mary Ellen West from 1943 to 1946.
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WAVES navy trousers
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WAVES navy blue slacks worn with the short-sleeve white shirtwaist and black seaman's tie. This uniform worn by Mary Ellen West from 1943 to 1946.
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WAVES officer's wool coat
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WAVES officer's navy blue wool double-breasted overcoat with three pairs of Navy gold buttons, belt sewn on the back, and reserve blue stripes on cuffs. This coat worn by Mary Ellen West from 1943 to 1946.
