Norma Schrader Collection
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Oral history interview with Norma Schrader
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Primarily documents Norma Schrader's active service with the WAVES from 1945 to 1946 and 1951 to 1953, and her life in the reserves following these tours. Schrader briefly discusses her family, her job at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company before the war, her decision to join the U.S. Navy WAVES, and her family and friends' reactions. She describes basic training at Hunter College, including her housing arrangements, schedule, and an amusing anecdote about topless sunbathing. " Schrader discusses her duties as master-at-arms, overseeing barracks and a mess hall in Charleston, South Carolina. She also describes the city, including its social life and how navy women were not made to feel welcome by Charlestonians, even at church." She also relates a story about putting whiskey into mince pies for Thanksgiving one year. Topics related to her during the Korean war include working and playing sports with African American women and her work as an athletics advisor. Other topics include choosing not to make the navy a first career, working at the Department of the Navy, and the influence of the military on her life.
