LTJG Louise Scott Oral History

title:

LTJG Louise Scott Oral History

creator:

Scott, Louise Dabney (Woodruff) (1916 October 29 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES

description:

Louise D. Scott (formerly Woodruff) was born on October 29, 1916 in Louisville, Kentucky. She grew up with two older brothers and one younger sister. She attended private schools in Kentucky until graduating high school and attending Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She graduated from Vassar in 1938 and learned clerical skills at Bryant-Stratton Business School before getting a job with the Work Projects Administration in Louisville. She then worked at the Louisville Gas and Electric Company in accounting, then as a secretary to the Naval Personnel Officer in Washington, DC in 1941. She returned to Louisville when one of her older brothers was killed while in the British Army, then began studying economics at the University of Chicago in 1942. While there, she saw appeals for college-graduate women to join the Navy WAVES as officers and decided to enlist in the spring of 1944. First, she went to Officer Candidate School at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, then to Supply Corps School at Radcliffe College in Massachusetts. She was taught mostly by women in OCS and mostly by men at Supply Corps School, and she was not treated any different in either place due to her gender. After training, she was stationed at the US Naval Hospital at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida. Initially, she worked as the assistant to the disbursing officer before becoming the disbursing officer herself. The disbursing officer was in charge of paying hospital staff and some patients, collecting payment from wives of servicemen who were in the maternity ward, maintaining records, and regulating article storage for safekeeping. She remained at this station for the rest of the war, receiving her discharge in the spring of 1946. She was engaged before enlisting, so she married shortly upon her return to Louisville before finishing her graduate studies at the University of Chicago, earning a master’s degree in economics. They had two children together, which disqualified her for rejoining the Navy Reserves. When she left the service Scott had reached the rank of lieutenant junior grade, 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:

Felde, Maurice

date:

1988-09-30

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

836; 1988.836

source:

NSCD | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

507816

coverage:

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

rights:

Unrestricted