Recruitment Poster: WAVE radio operator


Woman operating a radio during World War II
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WAVES stands for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. Before World War II very few women served in the Navy, and those who did were mostly nurses. During World War II women were needed not only as secretaries and nurses, but also for jobs in communications and intelligence. This woman operates a telegraph key. The Navy ran a school for radio personnel beginning in 1942. Research suggests that John Falter, the artist of this recruitment poster, used a Naval photograph taken during March 1943 of Virginia L. Scott as the basis for this image. She is sending a message from the code room of the Radio School at Madison, Wisconsin.