Last Of The Waves Leave Dayton
A seven bedroom home at 245 Park Road was leased by Capt. Meader to billet the remaining Waves.
"That was tough duty for the gals," says Evelyn Vogel’s husband, Jack. "Big mansion, sunken bathtubs and marble walls."
“The bathtubs weren’t sunken,” laughs Evelyn, “but the floors and walls of the bathroom were a beautiful pink and white marble. And there were 24 carat gold plated fixtures.”
Access to the upstairs was by way of a long winding staircase.
“It was a lovely house, the most sumptuous house I’m sure any of us lived in.”
In May 1946, most of the Waves that were left in Dayton were sent to the U. S. Naval Computer Machine Laboratory in St. Paul, Minnesota. Evelyn Burbacher stayed behind to deliver the Navy station wagon back to NCR, then was discharged a few days later. Evelyn Einfeldt and Wilma Martin were the last two Waves to leave Dayton.
"In August my orders said I had to go to St. Paul." says Evelyn. "Captain Meader said that we weren’t quite through, but I still had to go."
Einfeldt and Martin boarded a train and reported in St. Paul, then immediately returned to Dayton.
"At that time we had to find private quarters.” recalls Evelyn. “So we rented in a boarding house, where we stayed for the rest of the time."
The two women remained in Dayton until October 1946. The office where they had been working was closed, and the last of the Waves in Dayton left for St. Paul.
Discharged
When the war came to an end Waves were slowly discharged on a point system that determined precedence for release of Navy personnel.
½ point for each year of age
½ point for each month of service on active duty since Sept. 1, 1939
10 points for dependency existing as of the effective date.
Male Enlisted Personnel needed 44 points to be discharged
Female Enlisted Personnel - 29 points
Male Commissioned & Warrant Officers - 49 points
Female Commissioned & Warrant Officers - 35
The amount of muster out pay received was based on time and location of service.
Less than 60 days of service - $100
60 or more days of service - $200
Service in a foreign country - $300
Mary Lavettre was surprised when she received $300 in muster out pay.
"After my discharge I discovered my train from New York to Dayton, on secondary routes, had detoured through Canada. Thus, I had actually left the continental limits of the United States and was entitled to an extra one hundred dollars in mustering out pay. It's ironic that many veterans had been outside the continental limits of the United States for many months or years and I received the same amount of mustering out pay for traveling through Canada overnight."
Adjusting to civilian life wasn't hard for most of the Waves, although they did look upon life a little differently than the women who had stayed home.
"You know," says Jimmie Lee Long, "when we got our discharge and went home, civilian women seemed like airheads. They talked such silly nonsense."
A few months after they were discharged the Navy sent each of the Waves involved in the bombe project a ribbon signifying that they had been part of a unit that had received a commendation.
"They sent us this citation and they said 'Because of the nature of your work, you'll get no publicity of this.’” says Sue Eskey. "Well, they had us so brainwashed, we knew durn well that what it meant was that you just put it away and shut up! You don't say anything about it. That was it. Thank you.
"I never wore it. I just put it away. We had two ribbons when we got out. It was an American Campaign ribbon and a Victory ribbon. So I pop up with a number three ribbon that doesn't join the other ones. And my mother says 'What is this babe? What's this for?' And I said I guess they gave them to all the Waves because they were women. You had to tell those little white lies."
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