Grace Alexander Oral History
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Oral history interview with Grace Swank Alexander
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Documents Grace Alexander's early life; her service with the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) from 1951 to 1953; her following years of reserve and Special Services duty operating clubs and teaching school at bases in Europe and Asia; and the impact of her military career on the rest of her life. Alexander recalls her early life in rural New Jersey. She describes her early education and the hardships of the World War II home front. Alexander primarily discusses her military service during the Korean War. She explains why she joined the navy and discusses her training in Newport, Rhode Island. Specific topics include navy uniforms; training curriculum and courses; living arrangements in the barracks; and being company commander for a day. Alexander also discusses her communications work at the Pentagon and her life in Washington, D.C. She describes her work decoding messages for the chief of naval operations; living in the capital; and the politics of the country in the early 1950s, particularly the 1952 presidential election. " Other significant subjects include Alexander's reserve duty and her service with the Special Services operating clubs in Wurzburg and Bamberg, Germany, for two years in the mid-fifties and teaching school at air force bases in Fairford, England; Yokota, Japan; and the Philippines for four years in the early sixties. Alexander provides a detailed description of several reserve duty stations and of the parties held at the special services clubs in Germany. " Alexander also discusses her desire to travel; how she was treated in the military; the reputation of women in the armed forces; women as role models and pioneers; the impact her military service had on the rest of her life; and her graduate education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in the late 1970s.
