SKD2 Garnett Eva Gayle Oral History Part 1

title:

SKD2 Garnett Eva Gayle Oral History Part 1

creator:

Gayle, Garnett Eva (1923 February 16 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES

description:

Part 1 of 2, this is the original, unedited interview audio. Garnett Eva Gayle was born on February 16, 1923 in Louisville, Kentucky. She and her twin sister grew up in Frankfort, Kentucky where her father owned a pharmacy and her mother taught physical education. After the depression, her father sold the pharmacy to take a position as Chief Marshall for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and they moved to Lexington, Kentucky three years later. She and her twin sister graduated from Henry Clay High School in 1941, she spent two years at Ward-Belmont Junior College in Nashville, Tennessee, then she and her twin both transferred to the University of Kentucky in Lexington. After her first quarter there, Gayle enlisted in the Navy WAVES. In January 1944, she went to basic training at Hunter College in New York. After two months there, she went to Indiana University in Bloomington for Storekeepers School. She was in the Third Battalion and was detached from USS Bloomington. After a leave spent at home, she was stationed at Manhattan Towers in New York City in the ship store and soda fountain. She was stationed there for five days, then was assigned to the Armed Guard Center in Brooklyn, New York. There she worked in the disbursing office computing payroll records, and she was also on the basketball and baseball teams at the base. She considered volunteering to go to Hawaii with some of her friends, but it would require at least 18 months there and her grandmother was in poor health after having a stroke and she didn’t want to go too far from home. In October 1945 she was assigned to the Navy Separation Center at Lido Beach on Long Island, where she processed payroll records for Navy men being discharged. She worked there until her discharge in March 1946. After her discharge, she used the GI Bill to return to the University of Kentucky and graduated in 1948 with a bachelors degree in journalism. She worked as an assistant society editor at the Lexington Herald for a year, then went to Washington, DC to work for the former editor of the paper who had been elected to the House of Representatives, working for him until he lost his election in 1952. She was a secretary in the Dean’s office of the UK College of Law when she got notice of an opening at the IRS. She retired from government work in 1981, and has kept busy volunteering since. Gayle left the service with the rank of storekeeper (disbursing) 2nd class, 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:

Gayle, Garnett Eva

date:

1988-10-04

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

1988.263

source:

NSCD | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

323824

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1944-46

rights:

Unrestricted