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OH 1359

About the Interviewee

IntervieweeSILAR, Elmira Jane Bock (b. 1923)
Military ServiceU.S. Navy WWII Veteran, WAVES

About this oral history

Interview ID #OH 1359
Date(s) of interview
DescriptionHer experiences as a member of the WAVES during World War II. Youth and education in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania; enrollment at Prowell’s Business School, York, Pennsylvania, 1940; Wrightsville during the Great Depression; effects of the Great Depression on her family; her decision to join the Navy, November 18, 1943; boot camp, Hunter College, New York City, 1943-44; yeoman’s school, Oklahoma A&M College, Stillwater, 1944; assignment to the Advanced Fire Control School, Anacostia Receiving Station, Washington, DC, 1944-45; base living accommodations; promotions; her first experiences with gays and lesbians; comments about sexual harassment; social life; her summons and dismissal of charges before a captain’s mast; specific work assignments; her assignment to a top-secret project; news of the sinking of her brother’s ship during a typhoon off Okinawa on October 9, 1945; her promotion to chief petty officer; her college aspirations and the decision not to attend; postwar employment with the War Assets Administration.
Interviewer(s)Ronald E. Marcello
Physical Description99 pp. plus documents (1 pp.)
Terms of UseOpen