Cora Dell Croft enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in September 1918. She served during and after the First World War with two other Yeomen (F) who had joined the Navy with her, Mabel Nora Croft and Frances Gormley, at the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, D.C.
She entered the Navy Nurse Corps in March 1909 and served in Naval medical facilities in the United States and in the Philippines during the years prior to World War I. She was a Chief Nurse at Navy Base Hospital # 1, in Brest, France, in 1918-19, and served as an Assistant Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1923-30. Subsequent assignments included duty at Great Lakes, San Diego, and Philadelphia.
After 2 1/2 years of civilian nursing, she became a Navy Nurse in February 1937 and was first stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station Hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois. In 1939, she was transferred to San Diego Naval Hospital.
Rosamond D. Selle joined the Navy’s Women’s Reserve in September 1942 and was commissioned as one of the early WAVES officers. She was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in October 1943 and to Lieutenant Commander in October 1945. She remained in the Naval Reserve until at least 1949.
Shirley Feldstein enlisted in the WAVES at Portland, Oregon, in September 1942. She received training at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Norman, Oklahoma, during the first part of 1943 and was a member of the initial group of WAVES to become Aviation Metalsmiths. Later, she served in that rate at Naval Air Station, Seattle (Sand Point), Washington.
Mabel Nora Croft enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in September 1918. She served during and after the First World War with two other Yeomen (F) who had joined the Navy with her, Cora Dell Croft and Frances Gormley, at the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, D.C.
In February 1946, Commander Hancock became the Assistant Director (Plans) of the Women’s Reserve and was promoted to WAVES’ Director, with the rank of Captain, in July of that year. She guided the WAVES through the difficult years of Naval contraction in the later 1940s and the expansion of the early 1950s, a period that also saw the Navy’s women achieve status as part of the Regular Navy.
She became a Navy Nurse in September 1917, subseqently serving with Naval Base Hospital Number 3 in the U.S. and in Scotland during World War I, holding the grade of Chief Nurse for most of that period. Following the war, she was placed in charge of nursing activities at the U.S. Naval Hospital at San Diego, California.
Nellie Locust was one of a few Native American women to join the SPARS. Her service during World War II is an example of Native American servicemembers’ commitment to both tribal pride and American patriotism.
Commander Bernice “Burma” Nordstrom forged a path ahead for women in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy.