Navy WAVES at Canaveral: Women Who Trained to Track Kamikazes in World War II

World War II demanded more servicemen and more training bases, and Florida, with its year-round good weather, was used more and more. With men sent overseas, few were left to do their jobs at home — which opened a door for women to serve, as many had in World War I.

Women plot locations on a map; 30% of women in the WAVES served at training facilities. Official U.S. Navy photograph, National Archives (80-G-44795)

Creating the WAVES

On July 30, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Public Law 689, creating the Women's Reserve of the Navy — the WAVES, Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service.

• A name shaped by resistance. Opposition to bringing women in was strong enough that the name stressed that the service was "emergency" — for the war only — and "voluntary": women were not drafted.
• A nudge from the First Lady. After days of waiting for the president to sign, Eleanor Roosevelt was contacted — and the bill was signed soon after.
• Few African American women. Of some 90,000 WAVES, only 72 were African American; they were recruited only once all other women recruits had been exhausted.

Of the 90,000 WAVES, only 72 were African American women. U.S. Navy photograph, National Archives (80-G-333976)

Training at Daytona Beach

At Daytona Beach Naval Air Station, women learned to use radar to find enemy aircraft and then guide Navy fighters onto them as intercept directors. The goal was to locate kamikaze planes and bring them down before they reached their targets. Training covered intercept plotting on maps, military terminology, radio discipline and more.

Their field training took place in Mosquito Lagoon and on the barrier island within today's Canaveral National Seashore. The air station was also the main base using Mosquito Lagoon for dive-bombing practice at Target Rock.

The station, a temporary training facility north of the present seashore, went back to being Daytona Beach Airport after the war. Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, at the same airfield, carries on its training history.

After the war

WAVES were to serve no more than six months after the war ended. In 1948, Congress passed a law allowing women to serve as full members of the U.S. military, and President Harry S. Truman ordered equal treatment regardless of race, color or creed.

The WAVES set an example of duty, honor and courage, opened a path for women's rights in the military and beyond, and added to the long record of women supporting the nation in wartime.

"For your country's sake today — For your own sake tomorrow." Color poster by Steele Savage, 1944. National Archives (44-PA-820)

Sources

Based on "Navy WAVES at Canaveral National Seashore," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.