In the days following D-Day, June Korn of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania appeared in a Hazleton Standard-Sentinel photograph promoting a war bond drive to support the American war effort in World War II.
Korn, a member of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), represented the thousands of women who served in the United States Navy Reserve, playing a crucial role in military operations on the home front while men fought overseas.*
The photograph included the following caption:
WAVE June Korn Y 2|C, Wilkes-Barre, calls attention to the Fifth War Bond Drive and the importance of systematic bond buying.
Miss Korn is stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Ensign Kirschner, officer in charge of local WAVE enlistments says, “Now, more than ever, it is important that every man, woman and child get behind this all-out war for liberation. More and more money is needed to replace destroyed equipment and to keep of supplies going to our men who are offering their lives that we may preserve the liberty of our great nation. No price is too great – they are paying with their lives, we are only asked to pay with our money.”
Ensign Kirschner went on to say that now, more than ever before, WAVES are needed. “Our losses must be great and replacements will have to be made by men now serving on shore stations.
This means that more women must enlist their services in the Navy in order release these men for duty.”
It is important that every young woman consider seriously her patriotic duty and get into the fight now when she is most needed.
The WAVES program marked a significant step forward in women’s military service, enabling them to contribute directly to the war effort in ways previously unavailable to female enlistees. Women like June Korn filled essential roles that kept military operations running smoothly, proving indispensable to America’s victory in the Second World War.
Read more about women’s history in the Coal Region
Protest blocks the streets of Tower City, Pennsylvania | 1958
“Incidents of a by-gone age” – A description of life in the Coal Region before the Civil War
*A note about sources – I intended to link to an article that shared an in-depth article about the history of the WAVEs from the Naval History and Heritage Command. This article was deleted by the new administration. I find it extremely ironic, and quite pathetic, that the very people attacking others (falsely) of erasing history while blatantly doing the thing they proclaimed to be against.
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