The WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) served in the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. In July 1942, the Naval Reserve was authorized to accept women as commissioned officers and at the enlisted level, effective until six months after the war, which freed up many men for ship duty. Mildred H. McAfee (pictured), on leave as president of Wellesley College, became the first director of the WAVES. The notion of women serving in the Navy was not widely supported in Congress or by the Navy, but it was supported by the Navy's Women's Advisory Council, Margaret Chung, and Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady of the United States. The WAVES were primarily white, but eventually included 72 African-American women. Serving at 900 stations in the United States and the territory of Hawaii, many of the women experienced workplace hostility, but almost all of them looked upon their service as beneficial.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAVES

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1864:

A crack in the Dale Dyke Dam in Sheffield, England, caused it to fail, and the resulting flood killed 238 people and damaged more than 600 homes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sheffield_Flood

1941:

World War II: The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law, allowing the United States to supply the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war materiel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease

1999:

Infosys became the first Indian-registered company to have its shares listed on NASDAQ. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infosys

2009:

A teenage gunman engaged in a shooting spree at a secondary school in Winnenden, Germany, killing 16, including himself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnenden_school_shooting

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

jibe: 1. (transitive) To reproach with contemptuous words; to deride, to mock, to taunt. 2. (transitive) To say in a mocking or taunting manner. 3. (intransitive) To make a mocking remark or remarks; to jeer. […] 4. (intransitive, Canada, US, informal) To accord or agree. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jibe

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Science, by itself, provides no panacea for individual, social, and economic ills. It can be effective in the national welfare only as a member of a team, whether the conditions be peace or war. But without scientific progress no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation in the modern world.   --Vannevar Bush https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush