Martha Redding Mendenhall Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
Where can I find more information?: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/1130
What's in the full collection?: 28 May 1999 oral history transcript with audio cassette copy; photocopy of WAVES friends in 1991; photocopy circa 1940 in various photographs of friends and of Martha wearing WAVES uniform; Air Navigation Training workbook and syllabus circa1945; Flight Handbook, Manual and notes.
Full biography: Martha Mendenhall (b. 1920) of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, served in the United States Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) as a Link Trainer instructor from 1943 until December 1945. Martha Redding Mendenhall grew up in Asheboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and graduated from R.J. Reynolds High School in 1937. She studied English and education at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now University of North Carolina at Greensboro). After graduating in 1941, she taught high school history and English in Wagram, North Carolina. Mendenhall joined the United States Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in 1943 and attended three weeks of basic training at Hunter College in New York. She then went to a ten-week specialist school in Atlanta, Georgia, to become a Link Trainer flight simulator instructor. Mendenhall was first stationed at Whiting Field, Florida, then was moved to Celestial Link Training School in Quonset Point Port, Rhode Island, about a year later. Her last duty station was in Corpus Christi, Texas. Mendenhall left the WAVES in December 1945. She continued to work in Corpus Christi as a civilian until enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to get a master's in English and education. Mendenhall later worked at radio stations and in television production in Whiteville, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. She also did some work at Michigan State University toward a PhD in communications.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Schools and Colleges
Branch of service: Navy -- WAVES
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
United States. Navy--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Oral history interview with Martha Redding Mendenhall; Primarily documents Martha Redding Mendenhall's experiences at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now 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 postwar work in communications. Mendenhall recalls imitating Adolf Hitler in Woman's College (WC) pageants; political awareness among WC students; and memorable WC faculty and staff, including Harriet Elliott and Louise Alexander. " Topics related to her military service include comparing the army and the navy; basic training; duties as a Link Trainer instructor; lasting friendships with other WAVES; and social life and dating in the WAVES. " Other topics include her father's experiences in the army; working in radio in Whiteville, North Carolina; and producing the first telecourse for college credit in Washington, D.C.

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Women Veterans Historical Project

Martha Redding Mendenhall Collection

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