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YN2 Mary Ellen Guay Oral History Side B
Publication date: 30 July 2024
File metadata
Dublin Core Metadata
title:
YN2 Mary Ellen Guay Oral History Side B
creator:
Guay, Mary Ellen (Ancelin) (1925 May 11 - )
subject:
Navy WAVES
description:
Side 2 of 2. Mary Ellen Guay (formerly Ancelin) was born on May 11, 1925 in Dallas, Texas. She and her brother both grew up as part of the American Legion, with Guay starting as a junior auxiliary member and learning how to shoot and Red Cross emergency first aid measures. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, both Guay and her brother wanted to enlist but were too young. Instead, she joined the Civil Air Patrol with the hopes of learning to fly (which she never did) and attended North Texas Agricultural College. She studied languages with the hope of becoming an interpreter, but her main concern was still reaching 20 so she could enlist. She enlisted in the Navy WAVES in 1945 and went to basic training at Hunter College in New York. There, they learned marching, morse code, and aircraft identification, but they finished up training around the same time the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She joined the Navy to see the world, so she elected to stay in after the war ended. She was stationed at Corry Field in Pensacola, Florida and although she wanted to be an airplane mechanic, she worked largely in processing discharge paperwork and interviewing returning men to make sure it was up to date. She met her husband while stationed in Pensacola, and although she considered staying in the Navy longer, she ended up leaving in 1946. She remained active in the American Legion and continued doing everything she could to support veterans after her discharge. Guay left the service with the rank of yeoman 2nd class, and for her service she was awarded a World War II Victory Medal and American Campaign Medal. No transcript of this interview is currently available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Weigand, Cindy
date:
2005-05-29
type:
Audio
format:
Cassette
identifier:
380; 2002.380
source:
Weigand | CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
101033
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1945-46
rights:
Unrestricted