ENS Emily Stone Cocroft Oral History

title:

ENS Emily Stone Cocroft Oral History

creator:

Cocroft, Emily Stone (1916 October 8 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES

description:

This is the original, unedited interview audio. Emily A. Cocroft (formerly Stone) was born on October 8, 1916 in Providence, Rhode Island. She attended Vassar College and graduated in 1939, joining the Navy three years later in 1942. She first went to the first Naval District Headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts hoping to go to Officers Training, but she wasn’t accepted. Instead, she chose to taker chances enlisting. After basic training, she was sent to radio school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she was trained in morse code and typing for four months. After completing radio school, Cocroft was stationed at the Naval Air Station in San Diego, California. She remembers their Chief Petty Officer in San Diego was not thrilled to have the women show up, and had to change tactics when dealing with women who were largely older and more experienced than the sailors beneath him before. Although he had to make adjustments, she is certain the station ran more effectively with the WAVES there. They didn’t use morse code much while at the station, instead mostly just routing messages, but either way they were busy all day. After two years in San Diego, Cocroft was sent to Smith College to train as an officer, which took four months. This included a return to language school, where she learned how to use secret coding machines. After finishing there, she was stationed a the 12th Naval Headquarters in San Francisco, California. While stationed there, she had duty the night of V-J Day when everyone else was celebrating. After the war ended, she stayed a couple of extra months and was discharged in 1945. She stayed in San Francisco for a little while, but after she returned to Rhode Island for Christmas with her family she didn’t leave the state again. She left the service having reached the rank of ensign, 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:

Harkness, Mary

date:

1989-06-06

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

130; 1989.130

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

541554

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1942-45

rights:

Unrestricted