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Collections Archive –– Focus on World War II
During World War II, almost 400,000 women served at home and overseas in Europe, North Africa and the Southwest Pacific. They served with the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and civilian relief organizations.
Following are highlights from the Women's Memorial Foundation Collection, which reflect the diversity and impact of servicewomen’s contribution to the national defense during World War II.
Naomi Louise Steed
American Red Cross, Nov. 1944-Oct. 1945
Naomi Steed attended Elon College and worked at a state school for the deaf. She served at service clubs at Ft. Bragg, NC, and Seymour Johnson Field in Goldsboro, NC, and then joined the American Red Cross in Nov. 1944. Steed sailed to England in Feb. 1945 and transferred to Munich, Germany, in Aug. 1945. She was killed in an airplane crash in Italy on Oct. 30, 1945. At the time of her death, she was 32 years old and engaged to be married.
Collection includes personal letters and V-mails written by Naomi Steed to her family while she was serving overseas, official correspondence from the American Red Cross to Steed's family after her death, a newspaper clipping from Steed's hometown newspaper about her death, photographs from England in 1945, and her American Red Cross service medal. Gifts of Warren Steed, 1996.
Teresa M. Crowley
US Navy Women's Reserve (WAVES), Oct. 1942-Nov. 1942
US Coast Guard Women's Reserve (SPARs), Nov. 1942-Aug. 1946
Teresa M. Crowley joined the US Navy Women's Reserve (WAVES) in Oct. 1942 and when the US Coast Guard Women's Reserve (SPARs) was established in Nov. 1942, Crowley transferred from the Navy, as did most of the first SPARs. She was in the first group of women to attend the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, for training. Crowley's first tour of duty was traveling to mid-western colleges to recruit 200 enlisted WAVES who would be willing to leave the Navy for the SPARs. She later served as the senior SPAR officer at the US Naval Training Station, Bronx, NY, and then as senior SPAR officer and later executive officer of the US Coast Guard Training Station, Palm Beach, FL. When Congress authorized naval reserve women (WAVES, Women Marines and SPARs) to serve overseas in Hawaii and Alaska in Sept. 1944, CDR Crowley became the first SPAR assigned to permanent duty at the US Coast Guard Headquarters, 17th District, Ketchikan, AK.
Collection includes Teresa Crowley's World War II SPAR service uniform; dog tags; service medals; photographs including SPARs training at Palm Beach, FL, and of SPAR Director, CAPT Dorothy Stratton; newspaper clipping of CAPT Dorothy Stratton's SPARs second anniversary greeting; handbook, "General Training Course for SPARs;" book, "Three Years Behind the Mast: The Story of the United States Coast Guard SPARS;" SPARs 50th Anniversary reunion booklet; and memory book from the 1991 SPAR Recognition Day, "A Look Back: The United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve." Gift of Thomas Hogan, 1996.
Nona (Hambright) Vay
US Navy Nurse Corps, Jan. 1941-Oct. 1947
Nona (Hambright) Vay joined the Navy in Jan. 1941 and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in Oct. 1947 because she married. She was first assigned to the US Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Vay's naval nursing career included duty at the US Naval hospitals in Key West, FL; Brooklyn, NY; and Mare Island, CA; at the US Naval Dispensary in Mechanicsburg, PA; and on board the hospital ship USS Bountiful in the South Pacific. The USS Bountiful, formerly the troop ship USS Henderson, included one of the few blood banks on board a Navy ship and cared for casualties of the Marianas invasions, Peleliu landing, Philippines campaign, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Collection includes a cruisebook for the USS Bountiful; itinerary of the Bountiful from her commissioning (March 23, 1944) to war's end (Aug. 14, 1945); newsletters from the Bountiful; personal scrapbook with travel journal, newsletters, news clippings, cards and other memorabilia organized by location; and photographs including interior views of the USS Bountiful (X-ray, wards, pharmacy, laboratory, etc.), Navy nurses and crew of the Bountiful, on board ship, and off duty in the South Pacific. Gift of Nona (Hambright) Vay, 1999.
Martha (Wayman) Neal
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), Dec. 1942-Sept. 1943
Women's Army Corps (WAC), Sept. 1943-Sept. 1946 and Sept. 1950-March 1952
Martha (Wayman) Neal enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on Dec. 7, 1942, and served throughout the Southwest Pacific Area (Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines) during World War II. Neal was one of the first seven Women’s Army Corps (WAC) officers assigned to Japan during the occupation (1945-1946) and worked in both the military and civilian censorship offensive offices. She transferred to the Reserve in Sept. 1946 and was recalled to active duty in Sept. 1950. CPT Neal's subsequent duties included recruiting in Panama City, FL, where she was stationed near her husband whom she had married in 1951.
Collection includes Neal's Royal portable typewriter in case; service records and awards; mess kit and canvas rucksack; numerous photographs of Neal and other WACs in Australia and Japan; news clippings about WACs in Australia and the Southwest Pacific Area, Japan and from Neal's service as a recruiter; and maps, booklets and other memorabilia from Japan. Gifts of Darwina L. Neal, 2000 and 2002.
Audrey (Oliver) Guntermann
Army Medical Department (Dietitian), Aug. 1943-Nov. 1945
Audrey (Oliver) Guntermann joined the Army Medical Department in Aug. 1943 as a dietitian. She was stationed in the United States and the European and Pacific theaters, including North Africa, Naples, and Italy; and with the 118th Station Hospital in Okinawa. She was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the American Campaign Medal.
Collection includes uniform items, photographs, many news clippings and issues of newspapers and magazines, service records and orders, a large amount of correspondence, an ID card, buttons, insignia, language guides and hospital memos. Of special note are an "Eisenhower" or "Ike" style uniform jacket, 1LT Oliver’s diary chronicling parts of her life from early 1943 to mid-1946 and original issues of the Mediterranean edition of Stars and Stripes. Gifts of George Guntermann, 1996, 1997 and 1999.