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LT Susan H. Olson Oral History Side A
Publication date: 31 July 2024
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title:
LT Susan H. Olson Oral History Side A
creator:
Olson, Susan Hayden (Bolton) (1904 March 30 - )
subject:
Navy WAVES
description:
Side 1 of 2. Susan Hobart Olson (born Hayden, formerly Bolton) was born on March 30, 1904 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After finishing high school in Milwaukee, she went to Miss Brown’s Secretarial School and got a job at the American Association of University Women as a secretary and bookkeeper. Her husband was a World War I veteran, so when the United States was joining World War II they both immediately considered how best to serve. Since they had no children, they both thought it would be best for her to enlist in the Navy WAVES. She joined in September 1942 and went to basic training at Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts. After completing training she was assigned to Washington, DC to work in housing, mostly with personnel and occasionally in building management. She managed 996 women in barracks in DC, ensuring they stayed on schedule and followed Navy rules, so she often functioned as a sort of counselor for all of the women. After fourteen months, she was transferred to Northampton, Massachusetts and taught Navy Communication, Letterwriting, and Law. She was not confident in this position since she had never taught before, but found the women around her very supportive. She was there for six to eight months, was briefly stationed to San Francisco, California, and then requested a transfer to the 9th Naval District to be close to her father and husband, both of whom were quite ill. They managed to get her to Cleveland, Ohio first, then she transferred to the Great Lakes Naval base in October 1944, where she remained until her discharge in November 1945. When she left the service Olson had reached the rank of lieutenant, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and a World War II Victory Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Greeley, Elizabeth
date:
1989-09-22
type:
Audio
format:
Cassette
identifier:
51.041
source:
NSCD | CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
90762
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1942-45
rights:
Unrestricted