MOUNT VERNON — Barbara Barr Whyte Smith, born in Mount Vernon, admired her male cousin who joined the Merchant Marine when World War II began.
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“I thought that was so neat,” she said. “I didn’t want to join the Army, but I said if women could ever be in the Navy, I’d join.”
Her family moved to Grove City, Pa., when she was 10. After graduating from Grove City High School, Smith attended the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City for two years, commuting from her family’s home in New Jersey every school day.
When the Navy organized Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, Smith joined in 1943. Although she was 19, her father’s written permission was nonetheless required.
She distinctly remembers the stylish navy blue uniforms the WAVES wore. Created by the famous fashion designer Mainbocher, at the request of Mrs. James Forrestal, wife of the then-assistant secretary of the Navy, it consisted of a trim skirt, fitted jacket with the WAVE emblem on each lapel and plastic buttons — metal was needed for the war effort — white shirt, black tie, oxford shoes, hat — white for dress, black for everyday — white gloves and the dreaded lisle stockings, so hot and heavy that she still cringes to remember them. The WAVES summer uniform was a gray-and-white striped seersucker dress with a jacket and overseas hat. The Navy-issued purse was worn over the shoulder and against the left hip ... never the right. Smith still has her navy blue WAVES raincoat, and recalls that it wasn’t much protection when marching in the cold wind.
Her basic training took place at Hunter College in the Bronx, N.Y. After two months, the WAVES were shipped to Cedar Falls, Iowa.
“On a troop train, ugh,” said Smith, “from New York. It was quite a long trip. We even ended up in Canada as an evasive move. It seemed like it took forever.”
After two months of indoctrination in Iowa, it was time for assignments.
“We were asked what we wanted to do,” she said. “I wanted to be a chaplain’s assistant. I played piano and organ and had secretarial skills. But I was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C. Of course, I had to be investigated. Mother said all my friends were being interviewed by the FBI. They were taken aback by that.”
Her duties included standing rotating watches from midnight to 7 a.m., 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 4 p.m. to midnight.
“Then we had 72 hours off,” she said. “I hightailed it to New Jersey and my family. When the war was over in 1945, we were transferred to a division in Washington, D.C., called Special Devices Division. But I worked with Mary Carr, who was from Mount Vernon; she was a civilian employee of the Navy. That made the transfer easier.”
The WAVES were kept busy and there was no time for romance, Smith said, although they made a trip to Annapolis, Md., “to goggle the Navy midshipmen.” They also enjoyed going to plays at the National Theatre on their time off.
“That was a wonderful experience. Because we had the rotating shifts, we were sometimes off duty during the day, so we could see matinees. We saw musicals, operettas, plays ... Ethel Barrymore in ‘The Corn Was Green.’ It was great,” said Smith.
Honorably discharged in April 1946, as Yeoman 2nd Class, Smith still has her papers, Navy Department identification card and her medals, including a letter of thanks signed by James Forrestal, then Secretary of the Navy.
Asked if she remembers her military identification number, Smith immediately recites, 7688607.
“They told us when we were in basic training that we had to remember that in case they woke us up in the middle of the night, that we could never forget that number,” she said. “I still can’t remember my Social Security number, though.”
After her discharge, Smith returned to Mount Vernon, her parents having moved back some time before. She interviewed at Cooper-Bessemer, in her uniform — causing quite a stir of interest — and was hired as a secretary. Two years later, she was promoted to secretary to the vice president of sales. In her church choir, she met fellow Cooper-Bessemer employee Bernard E. “Bunny” Smith, who was a field service engineer. They married in 1949 and Barbara left the work force in 1954.
“I traveled with him, to Venezuela, to Sweden and throughout the United States ... I enjoyed that. What an experience,” she said.
The couple had one daughter, Barbara Ellen Smith White, who lives in Mount Vernon and is known by her middle name.
Smith is proud of her Navy experience and has good memories of that time.
“It was all good as far as I remember. There were situations when you would rather not have had to do certain things, but we did them. I’m glad I joined the Navy,” Smith said.
