Mary White Anderson
Margaret Roper Major Burns
The WAVES
Lt. (jg) Mary Greenleaf White Anderson, born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 27, 1922, entered the Navy Reserves in 1943, after graduating from Vassar. Anderson served at the Naval Air Station in Patuxnat, Maryland as a communications specialist from 1943-1946.Mary Greenleaf White Anderson
Mary Greenleaf White Anderson
Margaret Roper Major Burns
Margaret Roper Major Burns		 Lt. SC (W) Margaret Roper Major Burns, born September 21, 1919 in Clio, South Carolina, served in the Navy Reserves from January, 1943 to February, 1951. Assigned to the Supply Corps, Burns worked procurement at naval facilities in San Francisco and New Orleans.


The need for front line troops compelled the Allies to recruit women into the Armed Forces to take over jobs once handled by their male counterparts. In the United States, the WACs (Women's Army Corps) grew out of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and eventually consisted of over 100,000 women. The WASPs, Women Airforce Service Pilots, was a civilian organization formed in 1943 to ferry airplanes and assist with operational duties. The WAVES, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, were the naval women's service corps. Organized in June of 1942, more than 86,000 women served in the corps. More than 11,000 women served in the SPARS, the U.S. Coast Guard's women's branch formed in November of 1942. The duties performed by these military and civilian organizations ranged from clerical positions to flying airplanes to providing medical care on the frontlines.		WAVES Uniforms
Burns in San Francisco
Burns in San Francisco.
U.S. Navy Uniform
Loan courtesy of Mrs. Mary G. White Anderson

U.S. Navy Uniform
Gift of Mrs. Tootie Adams, from the Collection of the Sumter County Museum