Sarah Thorndike from Concord, New Hampshire, served in the United States Navy WAVES from 1943-1945.
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
Digitization of this collection is still in progress.
This scrapbook documents Thorndike's basic training at Hunter College, Bronx, New York, in 1943 and the U.S. Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island until 1945. The scrapbook has 60 pages with 83 black and white photographs, 69 items of ephemera and several news clippings. The photographs are candid shots of other WAVES, portraits, and official photographs of a regimental review taken on Hunter grounds on November 6, 1943, her training class, and WAVES marching in Newport's VJ Day parade. The ephemera include identification cards; leave passes; an ink silhouette drawing of Sarah; a prayer service program from Hunter in November,1943; menus and programs from military-related events such as Thanksgiving and the naval hospital's glee club; a WAVES/SPARS songbook; and a letter Sarah received from the Navy Department informing her that her “defective” vision was no longer an impediment to enlisting. Included in the envelope is a complete unused application to enlist in the WAVES, including the aptitude test. The collection also include two copies of a photo book explaining life and training at Hunter College by Richard Bennett Talcott whose cover title is “A Letter From ______ U.S. Naval Training School (W.R.) The Bronx, New York, N.Y." In one of the copies, which Thorndike mailed it to her aunt in early November, 1943, she wrote about her experiences in boot camp. She describes a regimental review, uniforms, inoculations, food and physical training.
Sarah Thorndike from Concord, New Hampshire, served in the United States Navy WAVES from 1943-1945. She graduated from the Boston School of Occupational Therapy in 1936 and was a registered occupational therapist specializing in “neuro-psychiatric” patients. In 1943 she completed basic training at Hunter College in the Bronx and her indoctrination at Bethesda after which she was sent to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island to work in her specialty.
Women's History Military
Navy -- WAVES
World War II era (1940-1946)
World War, 1939-1945 United States. Navy--Women
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
