Home

Women Veterans Historical Project

[Esther Williams at WAVES Training Center, 1949]

Reference URL

Save to favorites

To link to this object, paste this link in email, IM or document
To embed this object, paste this HTML in website

[Esther Williams at WAVES Training Center, 1949]

View Description

Download

small (250x250 max)

medium (500x500 max)

Large

Extra Large

Full Size

Full Resolution

Loading content ...

you wish to report:

Your comment:

Your Name:

...

Title	[Esther Williams at WAVES Training Center, 1949]
Date	1949
Subject headings	United States--History--1945- United States. Navy--Women
Era	Post World War II, Korea (1947-1963)
Service branch	Navy--WAVES
Item description	Actress and competitive swimmer Esther Williams walks underneath the sign at Great Lakes WAVES Training Center reading "Through these portals pass the women of the greatest navy on earth" while on a visit to the base in Illinois in 1949. Two men in suits walk out behind her.
Veteran's name	Bonds, Mary Kate
Veteran's biography	Mary Kate Bonds (1920-2012) of Chickamauga, Georgia, served in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and the United States Navy from 1942 to 1971. Mary Kate Bonds was born on 21 September 1920 in Chickamauga, Georgia, and graduated from Gordon Lee High School. In 1941 Bonds graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a teaching certificate and then taught for a year at Tyner High School in Tennessee." In November 1942, Bonds joined the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and the following month was sent to Officers Training School at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Bonds was first assigned as an instructor at the naval recruit training center opening at Hunter College in New York. She next served as a welfare and recreation officer at the Potomac River Naval Command in Washington D.C., and then was assigned to avionics mechanics support at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island. In 1945 she was sent to the separation center at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, where she assisted in aviation selection until her discharge from active duty in April 1947." Bonds remained in the naval reserves, and after a few months teaching veterans at Gordon Lee High School went to the Sixth Naval District headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina, where she worked with the base’s addressograph system until women were allowed to join the regular navy in 1948. She then reported for active duty at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, where she trained female recruits. After meeting actress Esther Williams at the base in 1949, Bonds was asked to serve as a naval consultant in Hollywood during the making of training films. In the mid-1950s Bonds worked in the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) in Washington, D.C . In 1958 Bonds attended Stanford University on a naval billet and graduated with a masters’ of arts. From 1964 to 1966 she served as the executive officer of the logistics command at the headquarters of the United States European Command in Paris, France. Upon her return to the U.S, she was assigned to the chief of naval operations office in the Pentagon. In 1967 Bonds was one of seven women promoted to the rank of captain, and served in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy at the Pentagon. In 1971 Bonds retired from the navy and settled in Moore County, North Carolina, where she became an active volunteer. In addition to the U.S. Navy and Joint Service Commendation Medals, Bonds is a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award for community service She died in Southern Pines, North Carolina on 25 December, 2012.
Place	Great Lakes (Ill.)
Type	image
Original format	photographs
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	WV0415 Mary Kate Bonds Papers
Rights statement	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional rights information	IN COPYRIGHT. This item is subject to copyright. Contact the rights holder noted above for permission to reuse.
Object ID	WV0415.6.005
Digital publisher	The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 -- http://library.uncg.edu/
OCLC number	900815016

[Esther Williams at WAVES Training Center, 1949]

Page/Item Description