LT Elizabeth Avery Johnson Oral History Side A

title:

LT Elizabeth Avery Johnson Oral History Side A

creator:

Johnson, Elizabeth "Becky" Avery (Hill) (1913 August 21 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES

description:

Side 1 of 2. This is the original, unedited interview audio. Elizabeth A. Johnson (formerly Hill) was born on August 21, 1913 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She grew up in Bellevue, Ohio, which a small town that was largely based around railroad work with the Nickel Plate Railroad or the nearby stone quarries. She graduated high school during the Great Depression, so she was able to attend Miami University in Oxford, Ohio because she graduated second in her class and they gave her a scholarship. She graduated Summa Cum Laude which qualified her for graduate level scholarships, and she went to Wellesley College to study English literature. Right after finishing that degree, she taught literature at Lima Central High School in Ohio from 1937 to 1940. She then moved to teaching Latin, English, and drama at Grosse Point High School in Michigan, which was the job she held when she applied for the Navy WAVES in August 1942. She ended up in the second class of WAVES officers, so she went to Smith College for boot camp in January 1943. From there, she was assigned to the Office of the Director of Training, First Naval District, in Boston, Massachusetts. While there she helped write the rules for the V-Twelve programs that emerged in men’s colleges in this period and recruited on weekends. After a few months there, she was stationed in Portland, Oregon with the Office of Naval Procurement to help with recruitment efforts full-time in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. While stationed here, she met her Army officer husband, and they married in October 1944, in time to comply with Johnson’s orders to go to Camp Wallace, Texas, serving as Assistant to the Executive Officer. This camp was disestablished, and she returned to the Pacific Northwest, going to Astoria, Oregon as the assistant personnel officer at the PBM Line Maintenance School. Her final assignment was in Seattle, Washington to take over the commandant of the WAVES of the 13th Naval District. In January 1946, she was discharged from the Great Lakes Naval Station. In that time, Johnson had reached the rank of lieutenant and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Marks, Marcy

date:

1989-01-29

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

89.135

source:

NSCD | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

046592

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1943-46

rights:

Unrestricted