The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-07-30

A decision TO increase the
strength of the Women's Reserve,
U. S. Naval Reserve, to 900 by
The end of 1914 was reached last
night on the eve of the first ami
yersary of that branch of the naval
service. Present enrolment is
27,0OO.
The success of the first years ex-
pertinent of making trained men
available for feet duty by augment
ing the service ashore with Navy
women Is vouched for by the fact
that the current enrolment is al
most three times the number an
.icipated by the Navy department
when President Roosevelt signed
the enabling legislation on July &c.
1912.
Where, year ago, men formed
the entire staff at all naval shore
establishments, today women are
manning control towers at air fields,
serving at the nerve centers of
Navy communications, restoring
health to the wounded at naval hos
pitfalls, packing the parachutes that
will save mems lives-doing many
of the jobs ashore formerly ham
nled by male personnel,
AdmiraIs Message
The measure of their achievement
Admiral Ernest J. King, USN, COM
mander in chief, U. S. fleet, and
chief of naval operations:
LAS commander in chief of the
United States fleet, I congratulate
the Womens Reserve of the
United States Navy on your first
anniversary in the naval service.
The expectations of the Navy in
you have been justified by your
hard work and sincere dedication
to duty. You who are members
of the Women's Reserve have won
the respect of the naval service by
your acceptance OF military re-
quirements. readiness for respon-
sibility, and already valuable
contribution to the work of VIM
ming the war. You will share the
gratitude of a nation when victory
is ours
When the Womens Reserve was
established one year ago, plans
called for 1000 officers and 10000
enlisted women. Today, the l6 train
ing schools for enlisted women and
The Naval Reserve Midshipmen's
school for officers have combined
capacity for training more than
hat number at one time. What was
originally planned to be mostly an
office force has expanded into gun
merry and blind flying instruction,
aerology, aviation ground crew
work, navigation and other fields.
In addition, there are large numbers
serving in Navy communications,
one of the first fields in which it
was recognized that trained women
could replace Navy men. Other
large numbers are also doing office
work and in time to come, they
will probably replace all enlisted
men serving in such billets at shore
stations in continental United
States.
Men Released
In assignments to duty, all but a
very small percentage of Women
Reservists have either directly re-
placed male personnel or been given
billets necessitated by the tremen-
dous expansion of the Navy which
would have had to have been filled
by men. Less than,20 per cent of the
officers and even fewer enlisted
women are doing staff duties at
Women's Reserve training schools
or in barracks at shore stations.
The rest have released enough Off
GERS and bluejackets to man the
ships of a major task force, includ-
ing a battleship, two large aircraft
carriers, two heavy cruisers, four
light cruisers and Is destroyers.
OF the $1,000 now on duty, about
10000 are still in training. The ra-
TO of officers to enlisted women
is about one to five.
During the year many women,
through hard work and devotion to
duty, have earned promotions in
rating and rank. At present, 30 OF
the IS lieutenant's commissions per-
mitted by law have been filled, and
there are about 300 lieutenants
(junior grade), some so of whom
-.ere promoted from the rank of
ensign.
Thousands of enlisted women
have been rated as third class pet
= Uincers upon completion of spe-
cialist training and several hundred
have later won promotions to Sec
ond class petty officer In addition,
100 women have been selected so far
from the enlisted group for officer
training and are now at the Naval
Reserve Midshipman's school,
Northampton, Mass.
While the largest group of women
,500-is on duty in
Washington, D. c., there are al
ready substantial numbers assigned
to every type of naval shore activ-
ity in the various continental naval
districts.
Approximate Figures
The distribution, in approximate
numbers, Is as follows: First Naval
District-540; Third Naval District
--1,250; Fourth Naval District
l25; Fifth Naval District-7OO; Sixth
Navay District-350; Seventh Naval
District-35O; Eighth Naval District
-375; Ninth Naval District $50;
Eleventh Naval District-750;
Twelfth Naval District-735: Thir-
taRnth Naval Distirct-SO0.