Last week we met Tyler’s Ardith (Aamodt) Sween and learned about her early years in Cottonwood and beginning her work career during the Depression era and early years of WWII.

By early 1943 she was ready for a change and became one of over 86,000 young women to volunteer for service in the U.S. Navy WAVES. Congress created this program to free up officers and enlisted men for service at sea by replacing them with women volunteers in stateside assignments.

Ardith received her orders in late February or early March 1943 to travel to Hunter College in the Bronx, New York for WAVES initial training. It was an exciting and anxious time for her. She described her indirect route from Cottonwood to Hunter College.

“[T]he route of the Great Northern went through Cottonwood. My orders read to take the train from Cottonwood to travel to Pipestone. I left Cottonwood in the early morning hours. My dad and mother took me down to the depot. I arrived in Pipestone and Pipestone had two railroads at that time. One, the Great Northern, ran north and south. I can’t remember the name of the other railroad that ran east and west, but I was to take that train to Austin or Albert Lea. There I joined a troop train. So, I traveled with a lot of other girls who were on the train. We traveled to Chicago, changed trains again and continued on to New York.”

She laughed as she reflected on what she was thinking during those long train rides across the nation, taking her ever farther from all that was familiar.

“What was going to happen next . . . what the whole thing was about, I guess. I had no idea what it was going to be like.”

The troop train carrying these young women east arrived in New Jersey where they made the final leg of their journey.

“We got off in New Jersey and took a ferry across the river to New York and then the elevated out to the Bronx where the college was located.”

Ardith laughed again as she described her struggles with her packing decision back home in Cottonwood.

“They had given instructions to have only one suitcase. I thought, well I can’t get everything I have to take in one suitcase, so I took a wardrobe suitcase, if you have the idea of the size of those. It was more than I could handle – but I had the help of one of the girls who grabbed ahold of it with me and helped me along.”

She explained how the Navy had arranged to house the new WAVES recruits.

“The Navy had taken over, besides the college, several apartment buildings. I was assigned to Apartment M. The living room was turned into a bedroom. Then there was a bedroom and a kitchen and a bathroom. We were 12 girls – 12 girls to an apartment. We had double bunks. There were 3 double bunks in each of the 2 rooms. So, if you can imagine 12 girls trying to get ready in the morning. One bathroom, so we had a schedule worked out, giving [each] so much time, but it seemed to work.”

Ardith explained what their Navy WAVES training was like at Hunter College.

“[O]ur day began at 0600 and we had to be dressed; have inspection; and be ready to march for morning chow. And from then on we had classes all day. We learned about Navy personnel; naval organization; [and] ships and aircraft. We had classes – after 5 classes we had a test, so we had to take notes. This was the only thing we could rely on – our notes that we took for the different classes. And after our classes for the day, rain or shine, we had to be on the Drill Field and go through all the steps of learning to march.”

Ardith also described their military status and availability of passes to leave the campus.

“We were there for, I think, 6 weeks. We went there with a rating of Seaman Apprentice. Toward the end of our stay there we were given liberty. The first time four of us went down into the city. The first thing we thought about was getting food. We went to Schrafft’s, which was quite popular at that time. We had atmosphere and we had food and we had leisure time to eat which was really something because when we had to eat at the Training Station, we were given just so much time so all of the hundreds of girls there could be fed before they had to be back to class.”

Ardith described the WAVES uniforms.

“Our uniforms were navy blue with a jacket, a skirt, and a white shirt with a black tie. We were also issued a rain coat which had a lining that could be taken out or be worn when the weather was colder. And then we also were issued a real heavy, wool, winter coat. We also had our summer dress white uniforms, which was a two-piece and we wore a light blue tie with our white shirts.”

After their initial training, the Navy assigned each of the WAVES a specialty and sent them for their individual training.

“I suppose because I had experience in the insurance office with bookkeeping, I was assigned to Storekeeper School, which was held in Boston. So, after our indoctrination at Hunter College, we went to Boston.”

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