A Day In The Life Of A Wave

 

            People were always puzzled as to what the Navy was doing in Dayton. 

            "We told them the old song and dance about taking courses we needed for something.  It was accepted, since no one, now or then, can figure out what the government is up to." says Elaine MacIntyre.

            "Our rank was Specialist Q." says Mary Kelly Seale.  "It meant communications, but we told people it meant Cutie Pies."

            Sue Eskey was interviewed by Charlotte Edwards of the Dayton Daily News in 1943.    Entitled ‘A Day with the Waves stationed in Dayton’, the two page article told “the story of one day, filled with activity and fun and the feeling of doing the work which must be done to win the war.”

            The article told of how Susie started her day off by making her bed, taking a shower, and dressing for the day in a white blouse, navy skirt and a well-pressed jacket.  Breakfast comes next,  in the NCR cafeteria.  At 7:20 a.m. the muster bell rings and Susie marches off to work with the rest of the Waves that are scheduled to work the 8 to 4 shift.  (The Dayton Daily News makes no mention as to what this work might entail.)  Home from work Susie changes into sports clothes to relax and play some ping pong, swim in the pool, or lie around and read her mail. 

            Later comes dinner, then the lowering of the flag at 7 p.m.  For those Waves not working the third shift, the rest of the evening is their own to do as they please. 

 

Recreation

 

            There were a lot of things for a young lady to do when she wasn't in Building 26. 

            "After our watch was over, we'd go wherever we wanted." says Sue Eskey.  "If we had rides we could ride home or we walked home.  It took a little while to educate the people that when we were marching in formation we couldn't accept rides.  Very often we'd be marching along and cars would drive up and say 'I can take four, I can take five of you'.  They were always wanting to give us rides.  We really appreciated it.  We had no other ways to travel other than the bus.

            "Colonel Edward Deeds (chairman of NCR) seemed very simpatico with the Waves at that time.  He would often be there with his car to pick up girls on rainy days and send out a chauffeur with a car to pick up a carload of girls and transport us up the hill to Sugar Camp."

            The women were very grateful to be treated so well in Dayton.

            People in general were just very, very nice to us."  says Sue Eskey.  "I think we were sort of an oddity to them, you know, to have a bunch of Navy women in Dayton, Ohio."

            Wanda Wahlman Ford was in high school in Dayton at the time.  Her mother and father, Hazel and Arthur Wahlman, would sometimes have the Waves out to their home.

            "It was war time and in that time people were different.  They cared about others.  Dad would go down to the USO and ask if there were any service people there that couldn't make it home for the holidays.  And he would bring two or three or four out to the house for Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner.

            "My mother was a great cook, a big table and we had company all the time.  Only they weren't company, they really turned out to be family.  We did lots of things together.  A couple we even took to our own family reunions.  We just sort of adopted them.

            "You  tried to do everything you could to help anybody in the service.  They were giving their time to the country.  They were really great people.  We kept in touch over the years with quite a few."

            "Even the people in the department stores were lovely to us." says Dorothy Braswell.  "One store kept nylons for us when he would get a shipment in.  It was hard to find nylons in those days."

            There were a lot of ways for the Waves to entertain themselves at Sugar Camp. 

            "I loved Sugar Camp." says Jimmie Lee Long.  "We had been cooped up with so many girls at boot camp.  We weren't used to this mass of people.  And when we got to Sugar Camp we had a chance to get off and curl up somewhere on a log or on a bench and read a book.  You could find a little peace and time to think and write letters."

            "We'd play ball games." says Evelyn Einfeldt.  "The Waves played against the civilian girls and the sailors against the civilian guys.  And NCR would have a picnic down on the river."  They had talent night one time and Einfeldt was picked to sing with three other Waves.  "You know, it was just crazy talent.  My grandson won't even let me sing his birthday song."

            The local theaters were a great source of entertainment.  Frances Whitener recalls a particularly memorable evening. 

            "Once when a group of us went to see Bing Crosby in 'Dixie' the theme was played at the beginning of the movie.  Being a good Southerner, I stood up.  All of a sudden, I felt someone tugging at my skirt.  I looked down and (Margaret) Sherry whispered, 'Why are you standing up?'  I answered, 'We always stand up at home when Dixie is played.'  I looked around and nobody else was standing.  The girls had a big laugh at my expense, which didn't please me at all.

            "That night I was awakened by Sherry's voice from the next cabin singing 'Dixie'.  I got out of bed, turned on all the lights so she could see me, and stood at attention until she stopped singing."

            There were dances every night at the USOs.  "There was the Van Cleve and the Biltmore." remembers Iris Bryant Castle.  "There was a special room in each hotel."  The Biltmore's dance floor was located in the 'Kittyhawk Room'. 

            "We went to Lantz's Merry-Go-Round Night Club for dancing and movies." says Evelyn Burbacher.  "I don't think we ate in many restaurants, but one place I think was called the Purple Cow."

            "Near NCR was a restaurant called Avery's." says Sue Eskey.  "I still have a table mat from there with the following note- 'Best hamburgers in Dayton'".

            Frances Whitener and her friend Adele Corsetti visited the Cincinnati Zoo the summer they were stationed at Sugar Camp. 

            "There were two short operas scheduled that evening on a small stage.  The first was 'Pagliacci', starring the famous Metropolitan Opera Tenor Giovanni Martinelli."  At intermission Adele wanted to go backstage and meet the great tenor. "I was reluctant, knowing the reputation that opera stars had for being temperamental, but she talked me into it.  As we rounded the stage, to our surprise Martinelli was walking around on the ground still in his make-up and clown costume.  No one else was in sight.  When he looked up and saw us coming he held out both arms.  As he was a huge man and both of us were small, he scooped both of us off the ground, hugged us to his chest and said, 'I lova da Waves.'  He'd put us back on the ground, talk to us and then at intervals scoop us up again and say, 'I lova da Waves.'  We loved Senor Martinelli."

            Dorothy Braswell also met someone quite famous.  "After I was in Dayton about a year, I believe, I was at some celebration up at the Carillon and I had the very special honor to meet Orville Wright.  I was so thrilled to shake his hand and tell him I was from North Carolina.  He was such a sweet and shy little man and I didn't wash my hand for weeks."

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