World War Two United States Naval Reserve WAVES 1942

Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs (1885 - 1967), Chief of Naval Personnel and Lieutenant Commander Mildred McAfee (1900-1994) Director of WAVES inspects a group of officers (l-r), Elizabeth Reynard, Lieutenant Jean Palmer, Lieutenant Virginia Carlin, Lieutenant Marian Enright and Ensign Dorothy Foster of the United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES ( Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) wearing their new uniform on 29th August 1942 at the Navy Department Building in Washington, D.C., United States. Mildred McAfee was the first director of the WAVES, first woman commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the first woman to receive the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. (Photo by INP/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)